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HAND-BOOK 



OF 



NORTH CAROLINA, 



WITH 



LLUSTRATIONS AND MAP. 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



RALEIGH : 

PRESSES OF EDWARDS & BROUGHTON. 
1893. 



JUN 25 1907 
D. ofD. 



P R E FA C E . 



At the request of T. K. Bruner, Secretary to the State Board of Agri- 
culture, in the month of May last I undertook the work of preparing 
a new edition of the Hand-Book of North Carolina. Two previous 
editions, by different compilers, had been issued, each one of which was 
considered satisfactory presentation of the varied conditions of the 
State as they then existed ; but as there had been a great increase in 
the industries, population and prosperity of the people of North Carolina 
from the issue of the first edition in 1874, to that of the second in 1883, 
so it was to be reasonably assumed from the latter period until the pres- 
ent the changes had been equally as marked ; greater, in fact, because 
the greater the removal from that era of poverty and desolation which 
had followed the war, and the subsequent agitated and uncertain con- 
ditions, the greater the incitements, aids and encouragements to rapid 
and full recuperation. 

It was desirable to prove the extent of this recuperation, the magni- 
tude and extent of the onward progress, the addition to the subjects of 
industry, and, perhaps, more interesting and valuable than any other 
subjects, the progress of intellectual enlightenment, and tiie extent of 
the educational advantages extended to the youth of the State. 

An event was approaching which was particularly calculated to call 
from the State an intelligent exhibit of its resources, an outline of its 
transactions, and a picture of the field in which the capacities and the 
aspirations of the people were most apt to illustrate themselves. This 
was the great Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago during the 
coming year, and in which it was not only desirable that North Car- 
olina should take part, but anticipate the part she was expected to take 
by such publication of her natural and improved conditions, her topog- 
raphy, climate and products, her institutions, her manufactures, her 
internal improvements, her ores and her minerals, as would satisfy 



IV I'KKFACK. 

I)Liblic expectation and justify the ambition of her own people to enter 
into friendly rivalry with her sister States, and with the world. 

Jt is believed that tlie present Hand-Book will contribute largely to 
correct many misapprehensions about North Carolina, the growth of 
its former timid modesty, and the absence of information which men 
of energetic public spirit could have earlier imparted. The extent of 
information given, the great number of subjects treated of, the great- 
ness and liberality of its public institutions, the generosity and com- 
prehensiveness of its educational systems, the extent of its internal 
improvements, the number and variety of its manufactures, the curious 
admixtures and value of its agricultural pursuit?, the extensive diffusion 
of its ores and metals, precious as well as the industrially useful, and 
also the universally salubrious and temperate climate, which is enjoyed 
from the seacoast to the mountains, will certainly awake tlie interest 
due to the many subjects brought to view. 

Jt may be added that they are brought to view with rigid regard to 
facts, with laudable object to give them wide publicity; with truthful 
purpose to present them as they are, without the coloring of exagger- 
ation, and without the distortion of untruthfulness or detraction. A 
large [)ortion of the facts are drawn from official records and the state- 
ments of statistics; and such being the case, it was impossible to have 
presented anything entirely new, since such facts as relate to topogra- 
phy, mineralogy, forestry, climate and kindred topics, once ascertained 
admit of few changes. Therefore to Prof. W. C. Kerr, the Rev. Dr. M. A. 
Curtis, Professor Holmes, Mr. Hanna, and other scientific authorities, and 
also to the re})orts of the various State departments, are due a large 
portion of the information conveyed in this publication. Acknowledg- 
ments are also made to the edition of 1883, from which, in some 
instances, copious extracts are made. I have, in addition, secured much 
material by personal research, particularly in relation to the Fisheries, 
manufactures, some subjects of agriculture, the mountains and rivers, 
and some of the newly introduced subjects of industry, such as truck 
farming, canneries, viticulture, etc. To information on climate, I am 
largely indebted to Dr. H. H. Battle; and to the articles on ores and 
minerals, gold, iron, copper, etc., to Prof. G. B. Planna and Prof. J. A. 
Holmes, State Geologist. 



P R K F A < " K . . V 

More space than is due, in proportion to the extent of the work, is 
given to tlie description of counties. It is to be regretted now that it 
was so applied. It is a great, a fruitful, and a ver}'^ important subject, 
and in point of usefulness merits a distinct work, for elaborate special 
description of the counties will be of more value to them and to the 
State than any other mode of inviting attention to their resources and 
characteristics. As it is, too little is said of such counties as could not 
be visited, and also too little of those which were visited, and had thus 
their importance demonstrated. The number of ninety-six counties is 
too great to be treated incidentally, and yet they could not be wholly 
omitted. I think the attention of the Legislature may properly be 
called to this subject. 

I cannot close this subject without reference to the generous aid 
extended by the officers and attaches of the Agricultural Department, to 
Commissioner John Robinson, to Secretary T. K. Bruner, andto Dr. H. 
B. Battle, Director of the Experiment Station. Drawn more closely in 
connection with Mr. Bruner, it is pleasant, as it is just, to render tribute 
to his interest in the Hand-Book, to his energy, his intelligence and his 
industrious research, by visits and by correspondence, to comprehend 
every subject that was attainable, that, in a publication designed to 
illustrate North Carolina on the wide stage of the world's survey, could 
add to the honor and interest of his native State. 

Circumstances beyond my control compelled a somewhat hurried 
and abbreviated presentation of the subjects embraced in the present 
volume. Nevertheless, I believe the Hand-Book will aid in giving that 
publicity to the conditions of North Carolina sought to be obtained by 
bringing it to the knowledge of the visitors to the Columbian Exposition. 

J. D. CAMERON. 

AsHEViLLE, N. C. December 18. 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

General Sketch 1 

The Mountain Section 1-3 

In Cross-Chains 3-5 

Elevation OF Mountains ' 5-8 

Middle AND Piedmont Sections 8-11 

Eastern Section 11-17 

Rivers 17-23 

Lakes 23-24 

Sounds and Bays 24 

Swamps 25 

Forests 26-42 

Cr.iMATE 42-45 

Raim-^all 45 

Snoav 45 

Frosts 45 

Population of the State 46-53 

Government and Taxation 53-57 

State Debt 57-59 

Religion 59 

Public Institutions- 60-72 

Bureau OF Labor Statistics 72 

Geological Museum 73 

Railroad Commission 73 

Public Buildings 74-75 

Education 75-78 

Higher Education 78-80 

Denominational Colleges 80-84 

Secondary Instruction 84-85 

Private Schools and Colleges 85 

Higher Fkmatj-: Education 86-91 

Colleges for the Colored People 91-96 



TAI5LK OF CONTENTS. VU 

PAGE. 

Description OF Counties 96-205 

Agricultural Products 206-208 

Tobacco _ 208-213 

Tobacco Production for 1889 213-214 

Rice _ 214-216 

Cotton... 217-220 

Cotton Crop for 1889 220 

Peanuts 221-222 

Ports and Harbors of North Carolina 223-227 

Truck Farming 228-233 

Silk 233-235 

Mineral Springs OF North Carolina 236-241 

Fisheries 241-247 

Oysters and the Oyster Survey 247-251 

Nurseries, Etc. 251-253 

The Grape in North Carolina 253-256 

Vineyards 256-258 

Resorts, Hotels ^ 259 

Seaside Resorts 259-261 

Mountain Resorts 261-267 

Manufactories in North Carolina 267-269 

Cotton Mills 269-272 

Woolen Mills i 272 

Tobacco Factories l 271-273 

Wood-working Establishments 273 

Paper Mills 275 

Knitting Mills 275 

Canneries 275-2 7 7 

Cotton-Seed Oil Mills 277-278 

Fertilizer Factories 278-279 

Pine Leaf Factories 279 

Bucket Factories 279 

Rice Mills 279 

Potteries, Etc. 279 

Iron Manufactories 279-280 



Viri TA15LE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Railroads 282-286 

Canals and Artificial Navigation 289-290 

Newspapers 290-291 

BuiLDiNci Stones 292 

Granite 292-293 

Sandstone 293-295 

Marble 295-296 

Slate 296 

Gold Mining in North Carolina 296-310 

Silver, Lead and Zinc 310 

Copper 310-311 

Iron Ores 311-320 

Manganese 320 

Chromic Iron 321 

Cobalt and Nickel 321 

Economic Minerals 321 

Pyritk 321 

Mica .-. 321-322 

Kaolin and Fire-clay 322 

Talc 322 

Agalmatolitk 322 

Baryte 323 

Whetstone 323 

Millstone and Grindstone Grit 323 

Corundum 323-324 

Marls 324 

Grai'hite 324-325 

Coal 325-326 

'^ Gems and Phecious Stones 320-328 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



GENERAL SKETCH. 

The State of North Carolina is bounded on the north by Virginia, 
east by the Atlantic Ocean, .south by South Carolina and Georgia, and 
west by Tennessee. It is included nearly between the parallels 34° 
and 36A° north latitude, and between the meridians 75|° and 84J° west 
longitude. 

The extreme length of the State from east to west is 503^ miles; its 
average breadth is 100 miles; its extreme breadth is 187J miles. Its 
area embraces 52,286 square miles, of which 48,666 is land, and 3,620 
is water. 

Its topography may be best conceived by picturing to the mind's eye 
the surface of the State as a vast declivity, sloping down from the- 
summits of the Smoky Mountains, an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet, to 
the level of the Atlantic Ocean. The Smoky Mountains constitute a 
part of the great Appalachian chain, which here attains its greatest 
height; the greatest, indeed, in the United States, east of the Rocky 
Mountains. This slope is made up of three wide extended terraces — 
if that term may be allowed; the first a high mountain plateau — dis- 
tinguished as the Western or Mountain Section; the second, a submon- 
tane plateau, distinguished as the Middle Section, of which the westeru 
half is further distinguished as the Piedmont Section; the third, the 
Atlantic plain, distinguished as the Low Country or Eastern Section,, 
and that part from the head of the tides downward as the Tide-water 
Section. From the first to the second section there is a sharp descent: 
through a few miles only of not less than 1,500 feet; from the middle 
to the low country a descent of about 200 feet; through the two latter, 
however, there is a constant downward grade. 

THE MOUNTAIN SECTION. 

This is so sharply and distinctly defined, and embraces so large a 
portion of the territory of North Carolina, as to merit a somewhat 
extended reference to its magnitude, its elevation and its character- 



2 TIAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

istics. Broadly considered, it may be treated as a high plateau, bounded 
on the east by the irregular chain known as the Blue Ridge, extending 
across the State in a general direction from north-east to south-west, 
until, reaching the south-eastern border of Henderson County, it turns 
to the west and forms for a long distance part of the southern boundary 
of the State, passing at length by a south-west projection into the State 
of Georgia, and again reuniting Aviih the chain of the Smoky Mountains, 
to which it had made near approach on its entry into North Carolina 
in the counties of Ashe and Watauga. 

The average elevation of the Blu« Kidge is nearly 4,000 feet, though 
on the southern and northern extremities it drops to 3,000 feet, its lower 
gaps being a little above 2,000 feet over the main level of the piedmont 
country. Seen from the east, the chain presents the aspect of a steep 
and rugged escarpment .springing suddenly from the piedmont pla- 
teau to an altitude of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above it. From the west 
the appearance is that of a low and ill-defined ridge, in .some places, as 
in parts of Henderson and Macon Counties, presenting almost a smooth, 
unbroken horizontal line; again uj)lifting itself in bold prominence, 
attaining the height of nearly r),000 feet, as in the Grandfather, and 
the Pinnacle, the cons])icuous summiis so attractively visible near Round 
Knob, on the Western North Carolina Railroad. 

The western boundary of this division is that long chain known 
under the various names of the Iron, tiie Smoky, and the Unaka Moun- 
tains, and forming the dividing line between North Carolina and Ten- 
nessee, and enclosing with marked definiteness the plateau of Western 
North Carolina. The area of this division approximates 0,000 square 
miles. The plateau is the culminating region of the Appalachian sys- 
tem, and contains not only its heaviest mas-ses, but also its highest sum- 
mits. It is divided by a number of cross chains, and consecjuently with 
a number of smaller plateaus or basins, each bounded on all sides by 
high mountains, and having its own independent system of rivers or 
drainage. It is this connection or interlacing of the outside bounding 
chains by the agency of the numerou.< cross chains that gives AVestern 
Nortli Carolina its marked mountain character, its alternation of high 
mountain ranges with corresponding valleys and their attendant rivers, 
and the numerous lateral spurs, penetrated also by their valleys and 
their mountain torrents, and all arranged with an order and a symme- 
try as rare as it is beautiful, and also presenting facilities for commu- 
nication from the opposite sides of these chains of inestimable value in 



THE MOUNTAIX SECTION. 6 

the construction of works of internal improvement not often possessed 
by mountain countries, in their general aspect tumultuously upheaved 
in defiance of human advance among their recesses. 

THE CROSS CHAINS. — The chief of these in exceptional elevation is 
known as the Black Mountains, consisting of two chains — the North- 
west and the Main chain — the united length of which is about fort}' 
miles, extending in a north-west direction from the Blue Ridge through 
the counties of Buncombe and Yancey, and ft)rming a link of connec- 
tion between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains. These united 
chains comprise twenty-five peaks in all, twenty of which are upwards 
of 6,000 feet in height. Between tlie French Broad and the Pigeon 
River stretches the long chain of the Pisgah and the New Found Moun- 
tains, interrupted by the valley of Hominy Creek, the opening of which 
offers convenient passway to the next parallel range, the Balsam 
Mountains, which extends in unbroken continuity from the South 
Carolina line on the south to the Smoky Mountains on the Tennessee 
border on the north. This range has a mean elevation of about 5,500 
feet, with fifteen summits exceeding 6,000 feet; and across the range 
are only two passways or gaps suitable to the passage of wheeled vehi- 
cles, one of which, traversed by the Western North Carolina Railroad, 
is 3,357 feet above sea-level; the other, Soco Gap, being 4,341 feet high. 
Then comes the Cowee chain, extending nearly across the State, and 
separated from tlie Smoky Mountains by the narrow valley of the 
Tuckaseegee River. The mean height of this chain is about '4,800 feet, 
the highest summit, at the southern end, being Yellow Mountain, 5,133 
feet. Then succeeds the massive and very bold double chain of the 
Nantahala and Valley River Mountains, with a mean height of 5,000 
feet, the two branches of which lie in close parallelism from the Georgia 
State line on the south as far as the Red Marble Gap on the north, where 
they separate, one branch directed westward and known as the Long 
Ridge, and uniting itself with the Smoky Mountains in Cherokee 
County; the other extending to the north-east, under the name of the 
Cheoah Mountains, and ending without definite connection in undefin- 
able chains or isolated peaks. 

On the east side of the Blue Ridge are a series of independent chains 
with probable geological identity, but pliysically detached. Among 
these are the Saluda, Green River, Tryon and Hungry Mountain ranges, 
nearl}'- parallel with the Blue Ridge, but separated b}^ the deep valleys 
or gorges cut through them by the angry torrents which have cut 



4 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

through them to unite with the waters flowing toward the AtLnntic; 
the waters on the west of the Blue Ridge, on tlie contrar}^ all directing 
their courses toAvards the Mississippi or its tributaries. Another series 
of ranges in general parallelism wdth the Blue Rid^e, but with wide 
interval of plain and valley betw'een the two, may be considered as one^ 
but with capricious outcrop, at one point appearing in bold continuous 
chain, then disappearing, and, at wide interval^ rising again and pur- 
suing a south-easterly direction, to unite itself with the mother range. 
This is the range which lifts itself abruptly in Stokes County as the 
picturesque Sauratan, with a mean elevation of 2,200 feet, to sink and 
rise again in the solitary monument of the Pilot Mountain ; then again 
to disappear to give place for the broad, fertile valley of the Yadkin, 
to rise again and expose to view the lengthened chain of the Brushy 
Mountains, again to sink, then rise again in solitary height near Con- 
nelly's Springs, and then rise again in southern Burke to dominate a 
very beautiful landscape as the South Mountains. 

The Linviile Mountains, though distinct from the Blue Ridge, are 
so coincident with it in perspective and in general characteristics as to 
need no mention as a distinct range. 

In the southern part of Randolph County, and extending into the 
county of Montgomery, appear the comparatively insignificant range 
of the Uwharrie Mountains, nowhere attaining an elevation of more 
than 1,500 feet, — rough, rocky and barren, except in mineral wealth, 
gold being found at many points in the range, and having been worked 
W'ith great profit by many investors. 

East of these mountains, in the counties of Orange, Durham and 
Person, appear frequent outcrops of mountain formation reaching in 
general characteristics almost the dignity of mountains, but nowhere 
rising to the elevation of 1,200 feet above tidewater. These detached 
outcrops may be grouped in the general term of the Occoneechee Moun- 
tains, and are the last efforts of the forces of upheaval in the direction 
of the sea to lift the earth above its normal level. 

The above embrace the whole mountain system of North Carolina, 
and in the western section unmistakably present the culmination of 
the great Ap[)alachian system, as illustrated by the highest summits 
lifted up in all the territory of the United States east of the Rocky 
Mountains, and also as the source from which many large rivers radiate 
to flow towards the opposite directions of the Atlantic Ocean, the Culf 
of Mexico, and the Mississippi River and its tributaries. 



THE MOUNTAIN SECTION. 5 

Along the Blue Ridge, along the Smoky Mountain range, and along 
the cross chains ai-e found the following summits which exceed G,000 
feet in elevation : 

IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS. — Mount Buckley, 6,509; Clingman's Dome, 
6,G60; Mount Love, 6,449; Mount Collins, 6,188; Mount Alexander, 
6,447; Mount Henry, 6,373; Mount Guyot, 6,636; Tricorne Knob, 
6,188; Ravens Knob, 6,290; Thermometer Knob, 6,157; Luftee Knob, 
6,238; Cataloochee, 6,159; Roan (High Knob), 6,306; Roan (High 
Bluff), 6,296; Grassy Ridge (Bald), 6,230; Cold Spring, 6,130. 

IN THE BALSAM MOUNTAINS. — Enos Plott's Balsam, 6,090; -Jones' Bal- 
sam, 6,224; Rockstone Knob, 6,002; Brother Plott, 6,246; Amos Plott's 
Balsam, 6,278; Rocky Face, 6,061 ; Double Spring Mountain, 6,380; 
Richland Balsam, 6,425; Chimney Peak, 6,234; Spruce Ridge Top, 
6,076; ReiiiharJt Mountain, 6,106; Devil's Court House, 6,049; Sam's 
Knob, 6,001; Cold Mountain, 6,063. 

IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS. — North-ivest Chain — Blackstock's Knob, 
6,380; Potato Top, 6,300. Main Chain— Black Dome, 6,502; Mount 
Gibbs, 6,501; Mount Hallback or Sugar-loaf, 6,406; Mount Mitchell, 
6,717; Balsam Cone, 6,H71 ; Black Brother, 6,619; Cattail Peak, 6,611; 
Hairy Bear, 6,610; Deer Mountain, 6,203; Long Ridge, Middle Point, 
6,259; Bowlen's Pyramid, 6,348. 

IN THE CRAGGY RANGE.— Big Craggy, 6,000. 

In all forty-three peaks of 6,000 feet and upwards. And there are 
eighty-two mountains which exceed in height 5,000 feet, and closely 
approximate 6,000, and the number which exceed 4,000 and approxi- 
mate 5,000 is innumerable. 

The general contour of, all these mountains is gentle, the summits 
generally presenting smooth rounded outlines, occasionally rising into 
sharp pointed peaks, and, except on the southern border, presenting 
little of precipitous formation. There, some of the most stupendous 
cliffs or precipices east of the Rocky Mountains present themselves, 
such as Caesar's Head and Whiteside Mountain, the latter presenting a 
sheer perpendicular front of naked rock eighteen- hundred feet . in 
height. 

Otlierwise the mountains are covered with deep rich soil, clothed 
with massive forests to their tof)S. To this general condition there is 
the remarkable exception presented by the locally nanled balds, natural 
mifeadows found on the rounded tops of maiiy of the highest mountains. 



b ilAND-liOOK OF NORTH CAEOLIXA. 

Their elevation is generally near, or above, 6,000 feet. The heavy 
forest growth of the valleys and lower slopes of the mountains is 
gradually dwarfed towards the bald summits, so that these are sur- 
rounded by a fringe of stunted, scrubby oaks, beeches, &c., the balds 
themselves being covered with a rich herbage of grass, pasturage to 
which large herds of domestic animals are annually driven to remain 
until the return of cold weather. 

The great elevation of these mountain heights is indicated by the 
botanical features of the vegetation, which shows a predominance of 
hrs, hemlocks, white pines, and other trees of high latitudes. 

In respect to those timber trees found here, in common with the other sections, the 
Mountain Section has the advantage of ])ossessiug an unbroken forest. In comparison 
with the extent of forest lands, the clearings here are mere patches. 

Thei'e is little hazard in saying that there is nowhere in any of the States an equal 
area of land covered with timber trees of such various kinds, and of such value. The 
walnut, tulip trees (poplars), and oaks attain a size that would hardly be credited by 
one who had not seen them. The preservation of this magnificeiit forest is due to the 
fact that it has hitherto been inaccessible to transportation. "VVitliin the i)ast few 
years mucli of it has been brouglit into connection with tlie markets of the world. 
One railroad line passes entirely through this section, and another branching off at 
Asheville and leading to the extreme southwest of the State, is in great part com- 
pleted. Into the northwestern part of the State also a railroad has been completed 
and others projected, of which two are partially graded. 

The cultivated productions of this section are the same witli those of tlu' Middle 
Section, cotton and rice excepted. Its garden vegetables aiv the same, but the cabbage 
and the Irish potato grow here to a degree of perfection that cannot be excelled any- 
where. Among the fruits, its apjjles are noted for size and flavor. Peaches and 
grapes grow weU generally ; but, for their highest perfection, nature has made pro- 
visions by a suspension to some extent of her ordinary laws. Throughout the moun- 
tains, in certain localities and at certain elevations, there are liorizontal belts where 
frost is never known. Such localities are found not only in this section, but in the 
South Mountains and in the Brusliy range. They constitute an unfailing source of 
supply of these fruits, and in i)rocess of time A\ill be occupied by estabUshments for 
canning fruits for the markets of the world. 

The climate of this section differs less from that of the Middle Section than would 
be inferred from its higher altitvide. The difference is more perceptible in summer 
than in winter. In the formei- season, its cool and bracing air, together with its 
varied scenery, its mineral waters — sulphur, chalybeate and thermal — made this 
section one of the favorite resorts of the people of tlie South and Soutliwest when it 
could only be reached liy private convej'ances. Since it has been penetrated by rail- 
roads, the influx of health and pleasure-seekers has increased an hundred fold, and 
in future will add very largely to its resources. 

It is the resort, too, of ])eo]ile from the far North in winter. It is protected by the 
range of mountains whicli form its boundaries from all the cold winds— the north- 
east, north and north-west. The degree of cold is therefon> temperate. A pincliing 
season niaj- come at long intervals : it is, however, of sliort duration, being (piickly 



THE MOUNTAIN' SECTION. 7 

succeeded by weather of a moderate tenn)erature. Such seasons are not unwelcome 
by way of contrast. T\\e quantity of snow that falls here Is less than that of the 
Middle Section. Even in the high mountain ranges, cattle are excluded from pastur- 
age by the snow only once in about seven years. 

The soils of the basins of the great rivers of this section, and its mountain valleys, 
are noted for their fertility. The capacity for the production of cereals and hay 
grasses is equal to those of any lands. As might be inferred from the heavy forest 
growth with which the entire surface is covered, the mountain sides are susceptible 
of profitable cultivation up to their summits. 

Among the valleys most noted for their beauty and extent are the Upper French 
Broad and Mills River Valleys, of Henderson and Transylvania ; the Swannanoa, in 
Buncombe ; tlie Pigeon River, Richland and Jonathan's Creek flat lands, in Ha^^wood ; 
those of the Valley River and Hiwassee, in Cherokee ; and portions of the Upper 
Linville, in Mitchell. 

The entire transmontane country is well adapted to stock-raising. The cultivated 
grasses flourish everywhere with even ordinary care. But it is in the north-western 
counties— particularly in the counties of Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga, Mitchell, Yan- 
cey — that all the conditions are found necessary for its perfect success. The soil 
througliout these counties is a deep rich loam, up to the summits of the mountains. 
The whole country is covered with a dense vegetation, amongst which will be fovind 
some of the largest timber in the United States, and as yet the forests are compara- 
tively unbroken, because they have been inaccessible to market. The clearing of the 
timber is a work of some difficulty, but when that is done the labor of the farmer is 
rewarded with the richest crops After two or three crops are taken off, the land, if 
suffered to lie at rest, springs up spontaneously in timothy, herds grass, and other 
rich pasture grasses : and once established, the grass peri^etuates itself upon the land. 
Nor is an entire clearing necessarv to establish the land in grass. If the undergrowth 
is removed, the trees thinned out, and the surface stirred and sown in orchard grass 
(Cocks foot), it flourishes luxuriantly, even while the forest trees are left standing. 

Its capacity as a grazing country has long been known. But formerly the cattle 
were left to the resources of nature, which, indeed, in such a country were abundant 
and rich. " Hoi-ses and horned cattle," says General Clingman in one of his publica- 
tions, "are usually driven out into the mountains about the first of April and brought 
back in November. Within six weeks after they have thus been put into the range, 
they become fat and sleek There are, however, on the top and along the sides of the 
higher mountains ever-green and winter grasses on which horses and horned cattle 
live well through the entire winter. Such animals are often foaled and reared there 
until fit for market, without ever seeing a cultivated plantation " Of late, attention 
has been turned to the breeding of fine stock, and some herds of cattle and flocks of 
sheep are found there which will comi^are not unfavorably with those of any country. 
This country is already penetrated by one railroad, and others are in course of con- 
struction. When fairh' laid open to railroad communication it will offer — besides its 
rich mining interests and timbers— one of the finest fields for cattle and sheep breed- 
ing and for dairy products that the Union presents. 

Apart from its forests, nature has been prodigal to this section in shrubs and flower- 
ing plants. It has always been a favorite resort of the botanists. It is a field that 
has been assiduouslj- cultivated by many of the most distinguished professors of that 
science. It was from these mountains that Bartram. the Michaux— father and son— 
Fraser, Dehle, Lyon, Nuttall. Von Schweinitz, Mitchell. Gray and Curtis, drew much 



Q HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of the material of their valuable contributions to botanical science. It was here that 
some of the most beautiful flowers that adorn the gardens, of Europe and of this 
country were first discovered. It still yields rare flowers to the explorer, which 
though not conspicuous for their beauty, are deemed rare treasures by botanists. 

This section has also been one of the chief sources of supply of medicinal herbs. 
Immense (juantities are gathered and shipped to the Northern cities and to Europe. 
In travelling through the mountains bales of these herbs may be seen collected about 
the countrj^ stores as bales of cotton are seen in the Middle and Eastern Sections. 
Ginseng in great quantities is shipped to China. The trade in medicinal herbs has 
grown into a large business. 

Corundum abounds in Macon, Clay and many other counties. Mica is abundant in 
]\Iitchell and Yancey, and those counties yield a large part of the woild's supjily. 
The largest and finest sheets of it seen at the World's Fair at Vienna were from the 
Ray Mine in Yancey. 

This section is rich in iron ores of the best grade. That of Cranberry ]iossesses 
such excellence for making iron for special purposes — steam boilers for example, and 
steel of the finest (Quality, such as is adajsted to making surgical instruments and the 
like — that a railroad forty miles long has been constructed through one of the most 
rugged parts of the mountain territory to reach it. Copper also is prominent among 
the metals of this region. The most noted mine is that of Ore Knob, in Ashe. It 
has been ex tensiveh" developed, and the business in all its branches is conducted with 
intelligence, skill and energy. 

The effect of these mining enterprises upon the prosperity of this section has been 
marked. Labor has found profitable employment, a home market has been furnished 
to the farmer, and there has been a general appreciation of property of everj- kind. 

The last three years have been remarkable for the success with whicli the difiiculties 
presentetl by the want of transportation in this State have been grappled with and 
overcome. These achievements at once great and beneficent, will make this period a 
memorable one in the history of the State. Railroads are now entering the north- 
western part of the State in several dii-ections. The completion and connection of 
these, and the opening up of this region, so rich in elements of undeveloped wealth, 
is now regarded as the first and most imi)erative duty of the statesmen of North 
Carolina. 

MIDDLE AND PIEDMONT SECTION 

Is intermediate between the Mountain Section, already spoken of, and 
the Eastern Section, which extends to tlie coast. It comprises neaily 
one-half the territory of the State. In passing into this section, either 
from the Western or the Eastern, a marked change is at once observ- 
able in topography, in produclion, and largely in industrial pursuits. 
The tumultuous continuity of mountains subsides into gentle undula- 
tions, a succession of hills and dales, a variety an<l charm of landscape, 
alike different from the high, uplifted mountain elevations and the Hat 
monotony of the plains or levels of the east. Every step brings to view 
some new charm, some new arrangement of the rounded hills, some 



.\riDDI.P: AND PIEDMONT SECTION. 9 

new groupiiic^ of iho tracts of forest which stiil cover so large a part of 
the country. The hills, indeed, in their gracefully curving outlines, 
present lines of beauly with which the eye of tuste is never satiated. 
These are attractions which depend upon |iermanent features of the 
landscape, and whicli, tliough infinitely heightened in their effects by 
the verdure of spring and summer, are only brought into fuller relief 
by the nakedness of winter. The variations of surface, though less 
defined at tii'st, become more marked towards the west, and towards 
the Blue Ridge the country assumes a bold and even rugged aspect. 

The hand of improvement is more visible in this than in any section 
in the State. This is chiefly due to two causes — 

1. Agriculture here was less dependent upon slave labor than in the 
Eastern Section. The number of slaves was less, and in many com- 
munities within its limits — as those made up of the Society of Friends, 
or Quakers — there were none. Hence, agricultural industries, whi}h 
w^ere prostrated there by the shock of the civil war — a shock from 
which it did not recover before years had elajsed— here sustained only 
a partial disturbance, and tliat for no long period. 

2. No part of this section was occupied for any length of time by 
hostile troops, and at the end of the war its means of subsistence were 
comparativel}^ undrained. A basis was left for the resumption of indus- 
tries To this is to be added anotlier advantage — the facility with 
which lands of the best class could be rented after the break-up of the 
old plantation system. All the large proprietors, after the loss of their 
slaves, had more land than they could cultivate. The only use they 
could make of it was to let it to rent. To young and <^nergetic men a 
golden opportunity was thus offered. They went to work, stimulated 
by the desire to redeem the time lost during tlieir service in the army, 
and by the hope of acquiring lands of their own. But everyone had 
lost heavily. The impulse to repair these losses was universal. Labor, 
from the predominance of the white race here, was not greatly inade- 
quate to the demand. Hence, every kind of business was pressed on 
with spirit and zeal. The effect, in a few years, was to obliterate, all the 
deeper traces of the war; then the work of improvement began, and 
has been steadily carried on. This section is now dotted over with 
thriving villages and towns. The homes everywhere indicate a high 
degree of thrift and comfort. An uiuisual proportion are built in mod- 
ern style, and tastefully painted. Nestled amidst yards and gardens, 
enclosed with neat painted palings, flanked with orchards of fruit trees. 



10 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in which a space is generally allotted to choice grape vines, they give 
abundant proof of ease, plenty, and, in many instances^ of no small 
degree of luxur}-. 

It is in this section that the great water-power of the State — estimated 
by the late State Geologist, Prof. W. C. Kerr, at three million horse- 
power — finds its greatest development and employment. It is through 
this section that flow the upper waters of the Dan, the Roanoke, the 
Tar, the Neuse, the Cape Fear, the Yadkin and the Catawba, and their 
numerous affluents. All of those have been utilized by the erection of 
corn, flouring and saw-mills in every neighboriiood, and cotton and 
woolen mills on almost all of the rivers and their tributaries. Within 
the last few years the number of cotton-mills has largely increased. 
Those erected lately are spacious buildings, and equipped with the best 
machinery. Within the same period all or nearly all of the older ones 
have been enlarged and new machiner}* put in. The fact begins to be 
more and more recognized that within the cotton States there are 
advantages for the manufacture of that staple that cannot be found 
elsewhere. Here the cotton is at the door of the manufacturer, and 
the prime cost of the material is therefore less. Wages are less here 
than in the Northern States, and a lower rate of wages here affords a 
more comfortable living than a higher rate there, for the necessaries of 
life are cheaper, and less of food, clothing and fuel are required. Less 
fuel, too, is required for heating the mill in winter. The laborer can 
make substantial additions to his means of subsistence from his garden, 
which is always allotted here to the head of the family. Here there is 
no obstruction to machinery from ice in winter, and no greater suspen- 
sion of work from drought in summer, for our rivers are as long as 
those of New England, and have as many tributaries. The original 
cost of the site and of the building i)ere is very much less than the 
same cost there. The force of these reasons cannot be long resisted. 

At a subsequent place in this volume will be noted what has beeo 
done in North Carolina, chiefly in tliis Middle Section, in cotton manu- 
facture.; and also the steps taken to foster that of the woolen manufac- 
turer, to which there are many of the climatic and economical induce- 
ments that so encourage and reward the manufacture of cotton. 

The soil of this Middle Section presents a blending of the soils of the 
Eastern and Wesle'U divisions, the tertiary formation of the first push- 
ing itself sometimes far towards the west until it comes into proximity 
with the secondary formation of the Piedmont Section, and often, in 



I 



EASTERN SECTION. 11 

its extreme western extension, partaking of tlie character of the pri- 
mary formation of the Mountain Section. A soil so composed or diversi- 
fied, in connection with favorable climatic conditions, oifers great agri- 
cultural possibilities, and in this section we find the widest range of 
production. It is here that we find the largest area devoted to the 
cultivation of the most profitable varieties of tobacco, and it is here 
that the culture of cotton is largely extended and profitably pursued; 
and it is here also that all the cereals and all the grasses are culti- 
vated in their highest perfection, enlisting the leading agricultural 
interest of the population. Here also the fruits of the temperate zone 
find congenial home — apples, peaches, pears, cherries, the small fruits 
and grapes being unexcelled in excellence, variety and abundance. In 
this section are also widel}^ distributed the richest veins and deposits of 
the valuable ores and metals, including the precious metals, gold and 
silver, iron, copper and lead, and the only two coal formations found in 
North Carolina. These ores, and the mining operations connected with 
them, will be treattd of in a chapter in this work prepared by the State 
Geologist. This region also abounds in varied and extensive forest 
wealth, which will be referred to in its proper place. 

EASTERN SECTION. 

The whole eastern portion of the State belongs to the quaternary 
s^'stem, with frequent exposure along the rivers, ravines, and ditches of 
the eocene and miocene epochs of the tertiary. It consists" of a vast 
plain, stretching from the sea coast into the interior of the country, a 
distance of from one hundred to a hundred and twenty-five miles. 
Traversing this section from north to south are tracts of country which 
vary little from a perfect level. The Carolina Central Railroad has a 
stretch of one hundred miles where there is neither curve, excavation 
nor embankment. From east to west the surface risps by easy grada- 
tions at the rate of a little more than a foot to the mile. The rise, 
however, is not perceptible to the traveler. But though level in parts, 
it is in general relieved by slight undulations. In its extreme western 
part, in the county of Moore, it attains an elevation of about five hun- 
dred feet. 

The western boundary may be roughly defined by a line extending 
from the western part of Warren, through Franklin, Wake, Cumber- 
land, Chatham, Moore, Montgomery and Anson. This line marks 
what, at an early period of the earth's history, was a line of sea-beach. 



12 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Over this whole section the primitive rocks are covered with a deep 
stratum of earth, principally sand. Along the western border there is 
a broad belt of unequal width, but generally from thirty to forty miles 
across, where granite, slate and other rocks are sparingly distributed ; 
they are also found near water-courses in the interior of this section. 
The belt of primitive rock here mentioned extends to the Wilmington 
and Weldon Railroad, from the Virginia line to Goldsboro, and from 
thence to u line drawn through Averasboro to the South Carolina line 
about where the Pee Dee enters that State. From the line there indi- 
cated to the sea coa.st not a stone of any size, .sca'-cely a pebble, except 
at a few points, is to be met with. There is a rock peculiar to this 
section formed by the combination of the cdcareous element of sea 
shells and the silicious matter of sand. It is full of cavities — the prints 
of decomposed shells — and is used to some extent as millstones. 

A bed of shell limestone underlies this part of the State, cropping 
out at intervals. It forms a good limestone, sufficiently pure for all 
the c mmon purposes of building, and in quantity large enough to 
supply a wide extent of country -with quicklime. Examples of this 
are found nine miles below Waynesboro, in the north-west corner of 
Jones, in the northern part of Onslow, at Wilmington, and on the 
north-west branch of the Cape Fear to a distance of forty miles above. 

This section is made up of beds of clay and sand -with vast quantities 
of shells im'oedded in them. The soil varies in character to the extent 
that the one or the other predominates: and to the extent that the 
shells, when intermixed with it, have undergone decomposition. The 
upland soil is for the most part a sandy loam, easily accessible to the 
sun's rays, easily worked, and very productive in the crops there culti- 
vated. There are, however, extensive areas of country w'here sand 
predominates to such a degree that the surface to a considerable depth 
is a bed of white sand. Yet this kind of land is the favorite habitat 
of the long-leaf pine. When cleared, it yields good croj)S of corn and 
cotton for a few years without manure, and alwuys with jJight help 
from proper commercial fertilizers. There are other extensive areas 
where cla}' enters so largely into the soil as to form a chiy loam. The 
counties on the north side of Albemarle Sound — a very fertile tr^ct of 
country — are examples of this class. The alluvial lands of this sec- 
tion — lands always in the highest degree produc ive from the fact that 
all the elements of fertility are intimately intermingled by having been 
once suspended in water — are of unusual extent and importance. The 



EASTERN SECTION. 13 

grain grown there supplies food not only for people of other parts of 
the State, but large populations in other States. There are also exten- 
sive areas where the shells of the eocene era of the tertiary formation — 
and which have been decomposed b}' time — crop out t • the surface and 
impart to the soil a high degree of fertility. This is the case from the 
eastern part of Jones county to the Cape Fear. The greater proportion 
of the good lands in Jones depends upon the fact that this formation 
is largely developed there. The rich lands of Onslow, and of R-icky 
Point, in New Hanover, owe their excellence to the same cause. Another 
class of land in point of fertility equalling any in the world is that 
reclaimed from some of the lakes of this section. To two of these the 
process of drainage has been applied — Lake Mattamuskeet and Lake 
Scuppernong (Phelps). By canals dug from the lake to the nearest 
stream which afforded the necessary fall a wide margin entirely round 
the lake has been brought into cultivation. These lands seem to be 
absolutely inexhaustible. The cultivation of three-quarters of a cen- 
tury has made no change in their productive capacity. To the lands 
reclaimed from the borders of marshes — so frequent near the sea-shore — 
the same remark may be strictly applied. 

Another class of land remains to be mentioned which will be a 
resource of inestimable value in time, perhaps not distant. Bordering 
on the sea and sounds are extensive tracts of country designated as 
swamps. Though so-called, they differ widely in their characteristic 
features from an ordinary swamp. They are not alluvial tracts, neither 
are they subject to overflows The land covered by many of them lies 
for the greater part quite low; but this remark seldom applies wholly 
to any of them — to sofne does not appl}^ at all. On the contrary many 
of them occupy the divides or water sheds between the rivers and 
sounds, and are elevated many feet above the adjacent rivers of which 
they are the sources. These latter are susceptible of drainage, and 
when reclaimed have every element of the most exuberant and lasting 
fertility. Bay River Swamp, between Pamlico and Neuse Rivers, and 
Green Swamp, in Brunswick and Columbus Counties, may be men- 
tioned as examples. The elevation of the latter is forty feet above the 
sea level. The work of drainage is simple. From the border of the 
swamp, which is always the highest land, the bottom slopes in every 
direction gradually, almost imperceptibly, to the centre. A canal cut 
through this border into the swamp, and carried to some neighboring 
stream, lays bare an extensive belt along the entire border. The 



14 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

aggregate territory in the State known as swamp lands is between three 
and four thousand square miles. When drainage shall be properly 
carried out over this gr<-at territory — a work which, on account of the 
slight difficulties to be encountered as compared with those which they 
encountered and overcame, would be deemed trifling by the laborious 
North German and the indefatigable Hollander — hundreds ff square 
miles of land of surpassing fertility will be added to the area now in 
cultivation. 

Throughout this entire section cotton, corn, oats, sorghum, peas, 
potatoes, especially swent potatoes, are the staple crops; the culture of 
tobacco has been lately introduced with success. Upon the rich allu- 
vions and the reclaimed lake and swamp lands, corn, with peas planted 
in the intervals between the corn, forms the exclusive crop. Occasionally 
on the broad low-grounds of the Roanoke, wheat is grown to a con- 
siderable extent. In the counties on the norih of Albemarle Sound it 
is one of the staple crops. On le low-grounds of the lower Cape Fear 
rice has long been the staple crop, and during recent years its culture 
has been extended northward along the low lying lands of the rivers 
and sounds. The upland variety of rice has been introduced within a 
few years pi?t with entire success. The cultivation of jute also has 
been the subject of experiment with like success, and it only needs 
proper encouragement to be grown to any extent. This section is 
everywhere underlaid with marl — a mixture of carbonate of lime and 
clay formed by the decomposition of the imbedded shells — sufficient 
in quantity, when raised and applied to the surface, to bring it to a 
high pitch of fertility aad maintain it so. 

The only metallic substances that have been found within this section 
are some of the ores of iron— the bisulphuret, hydrated oxide, and sul- 
phate, or copperas. 

In the counties of Duplin and Sampson valuable deposits of phos- 
phates have been discovered, which are now being mined and ground 
for fertilizing purposes. They are known to exist in the adjoining 
'counties, but to what extent has not been yet a.scertained. From the 
similarity of the geological conditions throughout the Eastern Section, 
there is little doubt that a systematic exploration there will lead to fur- 
ther extensive discoveries. 

The use of marl, on account of its lower value in comparison with 
its bulk and consequent cost of transportation, must be mainly, if not 
wholly, confined to the section in which it is found. Phosphates, on 



EASTERN SECTION. 



15 



the other hand, on account of their high fertiHzing power, admit of 
transportation to any distance, and may be used anywhere. 

Dr. Emmons remarks: "The swamp soils of Norih Carolina show a 
greater capacity for endurance than the prairie soils of Illinois, not- 
withstanding the annual crops are somewhat less per acre; and, on the 
score of location, we are unable to see that the Illinois soils have the 
preference. Nor, as regards health, are our swamp soils more subject 
to malaria than the country of the prairies " He refers to the remark- 
able fact that "persons live and labor in swamps with impunity or free- 
dom from disease." This statement is fully sustained by the reports 
of our engineers who have had charge of the construction of railroads 
in that section. 

The swamps, in their natural state, afford abundant pasturage. They 
are covered by a dense growth of reeds, which supply excellent food for 
cattle, winter and summer. 

That eminent agriculturist, Mr. Edn' ind Ruffin, of Virginia, who 
studied this section of the State with care, expressed a high apprecia- 
tion of the tidewater region for the cultivation of grasses. He said: 
" There is no better country for grasses east of the mountains. In small 
lots I saw dry meadows of orchard grass and clover that would have 
been deemed good in the best grass districts." It is evident, from the 
humid character of the climate in that region, and from the fact that 
the heats of summer are tempered by sea-breezes, owing to the prox- 
imity of the ocean, that the conditions are such as to favor the growth 
of this family of plants. 

Among the resources for future use along the seaboard country, peat 
is entitled to a prominent place. It exists over hundreds of square 
miles in area, and to the depth of many feet. At no distant day it will 
be extensively used, both as a fuel and fertilizer. 

If the indications of nature are to be relied on, Norih Carohna was 
plainly marked out as the land for vineyards. In the sober narrative 
of the voyage of Amidas and Barlowe, made in 158J:, to North Carolina, 
then an unbroken wilderness, the author tells us: " We viewed the land 
about us, being, where we first landed, very sandy and low towards the 
water-side, but so full of grapes as the very beating and surge of the 
sea overflowed them, of which we found such plenty as well there as in 
all places else, both on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as 
in the plains, as well on every little shrub as also climbing towards the 
tops of high cedars, that I think in all the world the like abundance 



16 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

is not to be found ; and myself having seen those parts of Europe that 
most abound, find such difference as were incredible lo be written." 
Upon the visit of the voyagers to the house of the Indian King, on 
Roanoke Island, wine was set before them by his wife. It is further 
mentioned that, "while the grape lasteth, they (the Indians) drink 
wine;" thev had not learned the art of preserving it. Harriot, a dis- 
tinguished man in an age of distinguished men, of whom it was justly 
said that he cultivated all sciences and excelled in all, visited the same 
coast in loSG, where he was struck with the abundance of grape vines, 
and he was impressed with the fact that wine might be made one of 
the future staples of the State. " Were they," he writes, " planted and 
husbanded as they ought, a principal commodity of wines might be 
raised." This State has proved to be far richer in this respect than it 
is probable even he suspected. Grape vines were found in equal pro- 
fusion in the original forest throughout the State. They often inter- 
laced the trees to such an extent that they were a serious impediment 
to the work of clearing away the forest, catching and suspending the 
trees as they were felled. At this day, if a tract of forest is enclosed, 
and cattle of every kind excluded, they spring up spontaneously and 
thickly over the land. Some of the finest wine grapes of the United 
States, the Scuppernong, the Catawba and the Lincoln, are native to 
this State. But it was long before the bounty of nature in this regard 
was improved. This was probably due to the fact that the State was 
settled almost wholly by emigrants from the British Isles, who knew 
nothing of the culture of the vine. It was planted here and there to 
yield grapes for table use; but it was not until within thirty years that 
a vineyard was known in the State. Within that period several of 
large and a great number of small extent have been planted. Grapes 
in season are abundantly supplied for domestic consumption, and ship- 
ped in hundreds of tons. The wines of the established vineyards are 
held in high and just repute. 

All the cultivated fruits and berries grow here in great perfection 
with the exception of the apple. This, though by no means an inferior 
fruit, is yet not equal in size and fiavor to that of the Middle and 
Western Sections. Among the swamps the cranberry is found in pro- 
fusion. The melons are of every variety and of peculiar excellence. 



RIVERS. 17 

RIVERS. 

Tlie river system of ihe State is determined by its peculiar topography. 
Its rainfall is copious, the fountain of numerous streams in all sections 
of the State; and, owing to the fact that the rivers in the Middle and 
Western Sections have their origin among the highest mountains and 
on the highest table-lands on the eastern side of the American conti- 
nent, these rivers, in their descent towards the sea, develop an immense 
amount of mechanical power. Those in the Eastern Section, with 
equal abundance of rain as a source of water-supply, but with more 
gentle descent to-wards the ocean, offer facilities for navigation not pos- 
sessed by the rivers of the Middle and Western Sections, and towards 
their mouths expand into wide estuaries, connecting with the sounds 
and bays which provide the ports and harbors available for exterior 
commerce, foreign and domestic. 

Topographical causes also largely influence the course and direction 
of these rivers. Those rising west of the Blue Ridge are diverted by 
that barrier towards the north and north-west and towards the Valley 
of the Mississippi with ultimate destination to the waters of the Gulf 
of Mexico. Those rising east or south of the Blue Ridge, or the upper 
part of the Piedmont Section, after a general direction tow'ards the east, 
ultimately pass out of the State in the middle portion of the Middle 
Section, and find their way to the Atlantic Ocean through the State of 
South Carolina; while those having their sources in the belt on the 
eastern extension of the Middle Section find an entrance into the tide- 
waters of the Eastern Division. 

The general river system is naturally divided into three subordinate 
ones entirely distinct from each other. The most characteristic of these 
is that originating on the plateau of the Blue Ridge, or on its western 
slope, the superior elevation of the high culminating masses of the 
great Appalachian chain throwing off the rivers to all the points of the 
compass. From this culminating height the Tennessee River, with its 
length of twelve hundred miles, draws its chief supply; and the Ohio, 
with equal length, from the same source, draws one of its chief upper 
tributaries. The volume of water poured out from this mountain reser- 
voir is very great. Thus, the most w^estern of them, the Hiwassee, wdth 
its tributaries, the Valley and Nottely Rivers, draining two counties, 
Clay and Cherokee, an area of about 650 square miles, passes into south- 
eastern Tennessee, a powerful stream with a breadth of one hundred 
2 



18 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

yards, with a descent, from their sources to the State hne, a distance of 
about 75 miles, of from 800 to 900 feet, })roviding great and continuous 
water-power. The Tennessee Hiver, united with the Cheoah, the Nan- 
tahala, the Ocono Luftee and the Tuckaseegee, all large streams with 
a width of from 50 to 150 yards, with united volume and resistless 
power, cuts its way through the Smoky Mountains at the point of their 
greatest elevation, aud constitutes one of the principal branches of the 
greater Tennessee, which unites with the Ohio a short distance above 
the junction of that river with the Mississippi. The united drainage 
of the Tennessee in Xorth Carolina is about 1,500 square miles, with a 
united length in this State of 300 miles. The fall of each of these, from 
their sources to the State line, is about 1,000 feet. 

The Pigeon River drains a separate area of about 500 miles. It has 
a course of about 70 miles in North Carolina, with a width of about SO 
yards, and a fall, from its upper valleys to the borders of Tennessee, of 
about 1,000 feet. 

The Frencli Broad River is nearly as large as the Tennessee, and is 
fed by several large affluents, such as Davidson's River, Little River, 
North River, Swannanoa, Iv}' and Laurel, and drains a territory of 
about 1,400 square miles. The fall from the mouth of Little River, in 
Transylvania County, to the State of Tennessee, is about 1,000 feet. 

The Nolechucky, formed by the union of Caney River and North 
and South Toe, unites with the French Broad after that stream has 
entered the State of Tennessee, becoming a broad and deep stream in 
size little -inferior to the river with which it joins its waters. Its drain- 
age is about 600 square miles, and its fall is about 1,500 feet. 

Elk and Watauga Rivers are smaller streams, with a course of onl\^ 
twenty miles or more in this State, but chief tributaries of the impor- 
tant Holston River in Tennessee. 

The New River, alone of all the rivers of the State, flows north, or 
north-west, into Virginia, and uniting its waters with those of the 
Kanawha, empties at length into the Ohio. Its aggregate length in 
North Carolina is nearly 100 miles, and its fall about 700 feet, and its 
drainage surface within the State is about 700 square miles. This is 
one of the larger mountain rivers, of the size of the Hiwassee, Ten- 
nessee and French Broad. 

Of the characteristic features of these mountain rivers, Prof. W. C. 
Kerr, former State Geologist, has remarked: "There is a common 
feature of these streams that is worthy of remark, viz.: that through a 



RIVERS. 19 

very considerable part of their very tortuous course across the plateau 
from the Blue Ridge to the Smoky, the amount of their fall per mile 
is frequently quite small, not greater than that east of the mountains, 
the greater part of their descent occurring within the gorges through 
which they force their way across the Smoky chain, so that many of 
them present navigable channels of considerable extent. The French 
Broad, for example, has a fall of less than 3 feet to the mile from 
Brevard to Asheville, a distance by river of 40 miles." And he says: 
"The dominancy of the western chain of mountains frequently asserts 
itself in a very striking manner, notwithstanding it is obliged, sooner 
or later, to give passage to all the streams of the plateau. The French 
Broad is a striking illustration, as well as North Toe and New River 
(South Fork), all these being thrown off by the steeper slopes and more 
rapid torrents from the western escarpments and hurled against the 
very crests of the Blue Ridge, along which they wander lingeringly in 
slow and tortuous 'course, as if anxiously seeking the shorter passage 
to the sea; but finall}^ turn, as if in desperation, and plunge with roar 
and foam against the frowning ramparts (of the Smokies) which bar 
their way to the west." 

There is, on the south and a portion of the east slope of the Blue 
Ridge, another system which has, in the course of its streams, almost 
direct outlet into Georgia and South Carolina, viz.: the Chatooga and 
Toxaway, which are the chief head streams of the Savannah River, 
the upper waters of the Saluda; and the Green and First and Second 
Broad, which unite to form the Broad River of South Carolina, uniting 
with the Saluda at Columbia to form the Congaree. 

Another and a more important system is that which drains the 
northern half of the Piedmont Section, and which is represented by 
the Catawba and Yadkin Rivers. These streams have a general course 
a little north of east until they leave the plateau, when they turn at 
right angles to their former direction, and pursue nearly a southerly 
course, and pass into South Carolina broad and placid stream.s, the 
Yadkin then taking the name of the Pee Dee and the Catawba that of 
the Wateree. Both of these streams receive their chief affluents from 
the north side, and many of these are large streams. Into the Catawba 
flow North Fork, Linville, John's River, and many others of less volume ; 
while the Yadkin quickly gains consequence by the admission of 
Reddy's, Roaring, Elkin, Mitchell's, Fisher's, Ararat and Little Yadkin. 
The combined drainage of these two great streams is more than 2,500 
square miles. 



20 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The Yadkin receives in its lo^'er course a larger number of affluents 
than the parallel stream the Catawba, has a greater fall in its course, 
and drains a wider and more continuous valley. Both are navigable 
in their upper courses, interruptions by shoals being infrequent, and 
which are readily surmounted, works to that effect having been begun 
nearly three-quarters of a century ago, but never perfected. The course 
of the Yadkin presents remarkable features of fluctuation in placidity, 
in width, and in contrast of characteristics, its upper course, almost 
from its source, having a very slight fall, then interrupted by Bean's 
Shoals for a mile or more, where it expands to the breadth of 200 
yards, then resuming its gentle course, attaining a width of several 
hundred yards, with its flow interrupted by numerous willow-covered 
islands, until, as it approaches the gorge formed by the encroachment 
of the Uwharrie Mountains upon its channel, it suddenly plunges, a 
bold cataract of 10 or 12 feet, into the head of the Narrows, through 
which it passes for a distance of 3 miles, compressed into an incon- 
ceivably swift torrent of a width of not more than 60 feet and 2 miles 
or more in length. Emerging from that, it at once expands into a 
channel of 1,00<;) yards in breadth, soon loses itself in the herbage of 
the Grassy Islands, expands, a sea of verdure, to the width of a mile, 
again emerges, and passes on to the South Carolina line through a 
channel of several hundred yards in breadth, torn by rocks and inter- 
rupted by numerous islands, many of them large enough for profitable 
tillage. 

Another important system is that of the Dan and its tributaries. 
The Dan is the largest river in the State, measured along its course 
from its sources in the county of Stokes to its mouth, a distance of more 
than 300 miles; and is further remarkable as the only river in the State 
rising in the Blue Ridge and reaching within the State the waters of 
the Atlantic Ocean. It empties into Albemarle Sound. A large por- 
tion of this river is navigable; from its mouth by steamboats up to 
Weldon, thence past the rapids by canal to the smooth waters above 
Gaston, thence by canals past other similar obstructions to the borders 
of Stokes County, in which it has its rise. 

There is another important system, having its origin in the Middle 
Section, discharging its waters into the sounds and bays of North 
Carolina, and giving to the people of the interior easy access to the sea 
and to the advantages of exterior commerce. This system includes 
Tar River, Neuse River, Ilaw River, Deep River and the Cape Fear 



EIVERS. 21 

River, which is formed by the junction of the two hist-named streams. 
The Tar River rises in the western part of Granville and among the 
serai-mountainous hills of Person, flows towards the south-cast, drains 
most of tiie area of eight cDunties, embracing about 5,000 square miles. 
Its fall from its sources to tidewater is upwards of 400 feet. Its greatest 
water-power is demonstrated ne:u' Rocky Mount, for three-quarters of 
a century the seat of one of the largest cotton factories in the State. It 
is navigable to Tarboro. At Washington it expands into a broad 
estuary, navigable for sea-going vessels, and thence takes the name of 
Pamlico River. 

Neuse River has its sources in the highlands of Person and Orange 
Counties. It becomes navigable for steamboats at Smithfield in John- 
ston County, all obstructions having been removed to that point. At 
Newbern it is 2 miles wide, and it is there joined by the Trent River, 
and the united streams soon widen to a width of 8 miles, emptying at 
length into Pamlico Sound. It is navigable for vessels drawing 14 
feet water as far up as Newbern. Its length is about 200 miles, and it 
drains an area of about 5,000 miles. 

Haw River and Deep River, which unite at Haywood, in Chatham 
County, to form the Cape Fear River, rise, the first in Rockingham, the 
other in Guilford County, and are important from the great water- 
power provided by them, utilized in Alamance and Randolph Counties 
by numerous cotton-mills, upon which streams there is a greater con- 
centration of manufacturing industry than elsewhere in the State. 
The Cape Fear River, formed by the junction of these streams, becomes 
navigable at Fayetteville to Wilmington, a distance by water of 120 
miles, giving an interior navigation not equalled by any other river in 
the State. It became a very important avenue from the earliest settle- 
ment of the country for the ingoing and outgoing trade of the interior, 
and was early made the object of improvement by an incorporated 
company organized in 1795; thence by the State, which, at ditlerent 
times, spent nearly a million dollars in attempts to improve the upper 
waters above Fayetteville; and in late years by the General Govern- 
ment, which has taken in charge the maintenance of continuous naviga- 
tion between Fayetteville and Wilmington. The aggregate length of 
the Cape Fear and its tributaries is about 500 miles, and its area of 
drainage not less than 8,000 square miles. 

\mong the larger tributaries to the Cape Fear River are the Black 
and Nonh East Rivers, both large, navigable streams, 



22 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In the south-east corner of the State are Lumber and Waccamaw 
Rivers, both bold, navigable streams, entering South Carolina, uniting 
with the Pee Dee, and emptying into Winyali Bay near Georgetown. 

In the North-eastern Section are numerous broad, navigable rivers, 
draining an area of about 2,500 square miles, and emptying into Albe- 
marle Sound. Of these the Chowan is the largest. It is joined by the 
Meherrin, the two having a united length of about 100 miles, and 
giving practicable navigation into Virginia. 

The chief of the other streams are Perquimans, Little River, Pasquo- 
tank and North River, all navigable, with little fall, and therefore 
unavailable as water-power. 

The Alligator and the Scuppernong are broad, deep but short streams, 
emerging from the great swamps of Hyde and Tyrrell Counties. They 
also empty into Albemarle Sound. 

Pungo, Bay River, and, between the Neuse and Cape Fear, several 
other short tidal streams, such as Newport and North River in Carteret 
County, White Oak River in Jones County, New River in Onslow 
County, and Lockwood's Folly and Challotte in Brunswick County, 
contribute their testimony to the extent of the water area of the coast 
region, and to the evidences of a bountiful, but not excessive, annual 
rainfall. 

The total aggregate in the length of the rivers in North Carolina — 
not including innumerable small rivers and creeks — is about 3,300 
miles, and their total fall is about 33,000 feet, or an average of 10 feet 
to the mile. 

The total Avater-power furnished to this State by these streams is 
estimated at 3,370,000. That furnished by the Roanoke River within 
the State is 70,000; of the Yadkin 255,000, giving a capacity to turn 
10,200,000 spindles; of the Catawba 184,000, with capacity to turn 
7,360,000 spindles; for Deep, Haw and Cape Fear Rivers an aggregate 
of 130,000 horse-power, with power to move 5,200,000 spindles, or a 
total of 600,000 for the rivers named, and to reach this result actual 
measurements were taken. 

Of remarkable water-powers which merit special notice, that of the 
lower falls of the Roanoke River, which terminates at Weldon, is the 
most conspicuous. Of this. Professor Kerr says: 

The whole force of this magnificent river, developed by a fall of 100 feet in about 
10 miles, could easily be made available by the canal which has its outlet at Weldon. 
The power of the Merruuac at Lowell is not comparable to this, and it is in the midst 



RIVERS — LAKES. 23 

of cotton fields, and yet has never turned a spindle. Another fine water-power is 
found on the Catawba at Mountain Island, 12 miles from Charlotte, the fall being at 
least 40 feet, and having the advantages of a similar canal. 

The reproach resting upon the Roanoke no longer exists, or is in 
process of effacement, a wealtliy company being now engaged in con- 
verting the enormous power and admirable facilities into profitable 
uses. 

Of another remarkable water-power, already referred to in the sketch 
of the Yadkin River, that of the Narrows, Professor Kerr speaks in 
particular terms worthy of quotation. He says: 

At this point the whole of the immense water-power of this, the largest river in 
the State, is suddenly compressed into a narrow, rocky gorge of the Uwharrie Moun- 
tains, a broad, navigable expanse of more than half a mile in width conti-acted into 
a defile of about 60 feet in breadth, through which the torrent dashes with an impet- 
uosity to which the "arrowy" swoop of the Rhine in its most rapid mood is but 
sluggishness itself. The total descent of the Narrows and the Rapids, in a distance of 
some two miles, is not less than 50 or 60 feet; at the termination of which, at the 
confluence of the Uwharrie, the river attains a width of more than one mile. 

At the time the above was written, the localit\' was about 30 miles 
from the nearest railroad. Now one, recently constructed, is within 10 
miles; and as the locality is within, or on the margin, of the cotton 
zone, such unequalled water-power must fix the attention of the energetic 
manufacturer. 

LAKES, 

Which are naturally comprised in the water system of the State, com- 
pose a very small area in the water surface. They are found only in 
the Eastern Section, and are comparatively of small size. In the 
Mountain Section, evidently, in a former geological era, they had filled 
the areas now occupied by numerous narrow valleys; but the barriers 
which once confined them long since gave way, and the tumultuous 
streams which now drain those valleys give no present token of their 
former languid life. In the Middle Section there are now no lakes, nor 
any evidence that they had ever existed. They must be looked for 
in the Eastern Section alone. Here are to be found 15 in all, of 
various dimensions. The largest is Mattamuskeet, in Hyde County, 
with an area of nearly 100 miles, with elliptical form, and in dimen- 
sions about 15 miles in length and from 5 to 7 in breadth. This, 
and Lake Phelps, Alligator Lake and Pungo Lake, are all situated in 
the great swamp between Albemarle and Pamlico Sopnds; and all of 



24 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

them are of smaller area than Mattamuskeet. In the White Oak 
Swamp, in Jones and Carteret, is a group of small oval lakes, a few 
miles apart, and united with each other naturally or artificially. The 
largest of these, North West Lake, has an area of 10 or 12 miles. In 
the Gum Swamp, in Bladen and Columbus Countie=, is the Waccamaw 
Lake, 8 miles long by 5 broad. These lakes, being situated in the 
highest part of the swamps in which they lie, have no feeding waters, 
but most, if not all, of them discharge full and exhaustless streams. 
They all have sandv bottoms, and a depth of from S to 10 feet. Most 
of them seem to have originated in the ignition during long continued 
dry weather of the peaty beds which compose the body of the swamps. 
The aggregate lake surface of the State is estimated at about 200 miles. 

SOUNDS AND BAYS 

These have been referred to in the sketch of the Eastern Section, but 
their extent and commercial and economical value entitle them to 
more extended notice. The coast of North Carolina, for a distance of 
nearly COO miles, is separated from the ocean by a succession of long 
nariow islands, in w^dth from half a mile to a mile or more, composed 
largely of pure white sand tossed up by the winds into dunes or hil- 
locks; occasionally there are extensive areas of marsh, covered with 
coarse grass, wild oats and other vegetation, forming the pasturage of 
the herds of wild ponies which abound on some of the banks. Through 
this narrow barrier the sea makes its irruptions to the sounds within, 
forming the inlets and outlets through which the operations of com- 
merce are conducted. These sounds are of various dimensions, two of 
them being important inland seas. Of them all, Pamlico and Albe- 
marle Sounds are the most extensive, the former lying parallel with 
the coast, with a length of about 75 miles and from 15 to 25 miles 
wide; the other lying east and west, with a length of 60 miles and a 
breadth of from 5 to 15 miles. These two sounds are connected with 
each other by Croatan Sound, 4 miles wide and 10 long, and also by 
the narrower Roanoke Sound. Currituck Sound extends from Albe- 
marle Sound to the waters of Mrginia through a shallow channel of 4 
or 5 miles wide. By a canal of a few miles in length it forms a con- 
nection between the inland waters of North Carolina and those of 
Virginia, and becomes the avenue for the passage of a very large com- 
merce. These larger sounds, all navigable for vessels drawing from 15 



SOUNDS AND BAYS — SWAMPS. 25 

to 12 feet water, besides being important for the carriage of a great 
outTS'ard and inward trade, are the localities of the largest and most 
productive fisheries along the Atlantic coast, abound in oysters and 
other shell fish, and are the haunts of innumerable wild fowl of the 
most desirable varieties. 

South of Pamlico Sound there is a continuity of narrower and 
shallower sounds to within a few miles of the mouth of the Cape Fear 
River, Avhere they a;'e interrupted by a narrow isthmus of sand. These 
smaller sounds are Core, Bogue, Stump, Topsail, and others. All are 
connected with the ocean by numerous but somewhat capricious inlets, 
dependent for their stability upon the condition of the ocean, but in 
their caprices offering no permanent obstruction to navigation. 

This inland water system is connected with the waters of Chesapeake 
Bay by the Dismal Swamp and Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, and 
with the connection of the waters already made through Delaware and 
New Jersey, can easily be made part of a great interior waterway of 
inestimable value to the United States in the event of war with foreign 
nations. 

The bays are chiefly enlargements or projections inland of the sounds. 

SWAMPS. 

Of what are known as Swamp Lauds, there is an area of between 
3,000 and 5,000 square miles. They lie chiefly in the counties border- 
ing upon the sounds or upon the ocean. They are not alluvial lands 
or subject to overflow, but are, as a rule, elevated above the adjacent 
streams of which they are the sources. Some of them are peat swamps, 
with an accumulation of decayed or decaying vegetation of considerable 
depth. The value of these lands is indicated by the character of the 
vegetation upon them. The prevalent growth of the best swamp lands 
is black gum, cypress, poplar, ash and maple, and also a luxuriant 
growth of cane. These lands have for many years furnished an 
abundant supply of timber from the species of trees above mentioned. 

The largest area of swamp land is known as the Hyde County 
Swamp, although it occupies a part of five counties. . It has an area of 
nearly 3,000 square miles. Owing to elevation above the adjacent 
surface drainage is easy, and large bodies of it have been subdued to 
cultivation, and are among the finest farming lands in the State, the 
chief crop being corn. The water, after drainage, is so near the surface 
as to make these lands independent of drought. 



26 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

About 100 square miles of the great Dismal Swamp lie within this 
State. Dover Swamp, between the Neuse and Trent Rivers, has an 
area of 150 square miles. In its central part it is 60 feet above the sea, 
and therefore susceptible of easy drainage. But the reclaimed land is 
of very unequal value. The other principal swamps are Holly Shelter 
and Angola Bay in Onslow, Duplin and New Hanover Counties, Gum 
Swamp in Brunswick and Columbus, and White Marsh and Brown 
Marsh in the same section. All of tliem abound iu valuable timbers, 
cypress, juniper, poplar, maple, oak, &c., and the industries of shingle- 
getting, staves and other products of the forest are very activel}'' 
pursued. 

The most productive farms in the State have been reclaimed from 
the borders of many of these swamps, and have proved practically 
inexhaustible. Lands in Hyde County, cultivated for a period of one 
hundred years continuously in corn, without the application of manure, 
show no apparent loss of fertility. The swamps themselves, and also 
the country around them, seem conducive rather than prejudicial to 
health — the timber- getters, engaged in the very depths of mire and 
water, appearing to be peculiarly exempt from malarial poison, if, in 
fact, it exists in the swamps. 

FORESTS. 

The forestry of North Carolina is remarkable for its extent, its 
variety, the number of its species, and also for its contrasts. For in 
this State is presented the only instance where the influence of latitude 
is displaced by that of longitude; where the ascent from the shores of 
the ocean to the heights of the mountains produces the same effects as 
are wrought elsewhere by advance from the semi-tropical airs of the 
South to the frozen regions of the North, Thus, standing near sea- 
level, where the shores are washed by the tepid waters of the Gulf 
Stream, we meet the semi-tropical palmetto and the evergreen live-oak 
congenial to the soil and climate of Florida; thence, advancing to the 
west, and ascending the summits of mountains, a mile and a quarter 
above the sea, we encounter the different forms of the fir, the balsam, 
the hemlock and the white pine,. clothing those summits with such 
dense, sombre, Canadian verdure as to give color to the landscape and 
names to the mountains. The whole country is thus not only adorned 
with arbored forms of great beauty and scientific interest, but with 
trees of great value in all that conduces to Ihe gratification of human 



FOKESTS. 27 

wants, and a powerful factor in industrial pursuits and in the inter- 
changes of commerce. 

The many distinguished botanists who have studied this subject — 
from Bartram, who made his tour in 1770, the elder Michaux, who 
visited it in 1787, the younger Michaux, who came in 1802, down to 
the later botanical explorers. Dr. De Sehweinilz, Nuttall, Dr. Gray and 
Mr. Carey, who explored the higher ranges of our mountains in 1841, 
and our own Dr. Curtis, whose wide excursions were made at a later 
period — all agree that on no part of the American continent were trees 
to be found of such beauty, value and variety as were to be found 
throughout North Carolina. Many of the trees and shrubs now familiar 
to European ornamental and economical uses were introduced from 
this State; among which are the locust {Rohinia pseudacacia) ; the 
tulip tree {Liriodendron) ; the rose locust {R. Hispida); the rhododen- 
dron in its various forms, the ivy (Kalmia Latifolia), and many others, 
confirming what Dr. Curtis has said, that "in all the elements which 
render forest scenery attractive, no portion of the United States presents 
them in happier combination, in greater perfection, or in larger extent 
than the mountains of North Carolina"; and, he might have added, 
throughout the whole State; for no portion of it is deficient either in 
the number and varieties of species, or in the size and value of the 
trees. 

In order to realize the extent to which tliis richness of forest development is con- 
centrated within the area of this State, it is only necessary to call attention to the 
distribntion of a few kinds which are dominant and characteristic. Of species found 
in the United States (east of the Rocky Mountains), there are 

Oaks - - 22, and 19 in North Carolina. 

Pines (trees) 8, and 8 in North Carolina. 

Spruces 5, and 4 in North Carolina. 

Elms 5, and 3 in North Carolina. 

Walnuts 2, and 2 in North Carolina. 

Birches 5, and 3 in North Carolina. 

Maples 5, and 5 in North Carolina. 

Hickories - 8, and 6 in North Carolina. 

Magnolias 7, and 7 in North Carolina. 

And as to the first and most important group of the list, Dr. Curtis has called atten- 
tion to the very striking fact that there are more species of oaks in this State *• than 
in all of the States north of us, and only one less than in all the Southern States, east 
of the Mississippi.'" 

THE PINES, which include all the species found in the United States 
east of the Rocky Mountains, are the most widely diffused, and the 



28 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

most valuable from their numerous use?, in lumber and other products, 
to which they are applied. 

That variety which has tlie nio-st uses, and which is also the most 
widely diffused, occupying dense forests — or what were once dense 
forests — throughout a large portion of the Eastern Section, is the 

Long-leaf Pine — P. australis. Of this tree, Dr. Curtis says: 

"The invaluable tree by which the country, and this State especially, 
have so largely profited, is generally known among us by the name 
here given, though it sometimes is called yellow pine. In the navy 
and dockyards of the country it bears the latter name, though this 
designation there includes also the swamp or rosemary pine, as well as 
the species first described in this list. It begins to appear in the south- 
eastern part of Virginia, and from thence to Florida it is eminently the 
tree of the lower districts of the Southern States, occupjang nearly all 
the dry sandy soil for many hundred miles. It is from 60 to 70 feet 
high, in favorable situations still higher, and 15 to 20 inches in diameter. 
The leaves are 10 to 15 inches long, on young stocks sometimes much 
longer, and clustered on the ends of the branches like a broom. The 
cones are 6 to 8 inches long. The wood contains very little sap. The 
resinous matter is distributed very uniformly through it, and hence 
the wood is more durable, stronger, and more compact ; which qualities, 
in addition to its being of fine grain, give it the preference over all our 
pines The quality of the wood, however, depends upon the kind of 
soil in which it is grown, as in a richer mould it is less resinous. This 
inferior kind is, in some places, distinguished as yellow pine — another 
case in point, illustrating the vague and indiscriminate application of 
the popular names of our forest trees. In some soils the wood is of a 
reddish hue; and this, in the northern dockyards, is denominated red 
pine, and considered better than the others. I am informed that trees 
which have a small top indicate a stock with the best heart-wood. 

"The great value of this tree in both civil and naval architecture is 
too well known to justify a full enumeration of its uses, and s'atistics 
of trade in it belong rather to a gazetteer than to an essay like this. 
But it is not the wood only that gives value to this tree. The resinous 
matter, in various forms, is shipped from our ports in large quantities 
to all parts of the United States and to foreign countries. Turpentine 
is the sap in its natural state as it flows from the tree. When it hardens 
upon the trunk, and is gotten off by proper implements, it is called 
scrapings, of very inferior value to the virgin article. Tar is made by 



FORESTS 29 

burning the dead limbs and wood in kilns. Pitch is tar reduced about 
one-half by evaporation. Spirits of turpentine is obtained by distil- 
lation from turpentine, including scrapings. Rosin is the residuum 
left by distillation. The greater part of these articles in the markets is 
derived, I believe, from this State." 

The supply of this valuable tree is steadily diminishing, as proved 
by the diminution of the receipts at the ports from which its products 
are exported. 

For a hundred and fifty years the pine forests had been the chief 
reliance of the people in whose section the long-leaf pine abounded to 
such extent as have been characteristic in national familiar nomencla- 
ture. For a greater part of that long period only that was used which 
was conveniently accessible, and the products readily transported to the 
markets ; and, until within the past forty years, little apparent encroach- 
ment had been made upon the seemingly inexhaustible store. Since 
that period, railroads have penetrated all parts of the country, steam 
saw-mills have displaced the old water-mills, and when they had 
exhausted the suppW readily attainable, tram-roads have been built, 
connecting with the railroads, the steam mills transported to fresh ter- 
ritory, and thus the work of consumption and actual denudation has 
been carried on to such extent as to perplex and concern the patriot 
and statesman as to the measures to be taken to stop the waste, or find 
a substitute for the destroyed forests. 

The White Pine, the great timber tree of the North and North- 
west, is found somewhat sparingly in our Mountain Section, but is 
inaccessible to market and is little used. 

The Yellow Pine — Plnus mitis — is known most generally as short- 
leaved pine, or spruce pine, and is found from the coast to the moun- 
tains. It is from 40 to GO feet high, with a circumference of from 4 to 
6 feet. The timber is extensively used for house and ship- building, 
though less valued for these purposes than the long-leaf. 

The Jersey Pine, the Prickly Pine and the Pitch Pine are less 
valuable varieties; the second of these common in the Piedmont and 
Mountain Sections, and to some extent in the rough hilly country in 
the northern part of Durham County and the southern part of Person 
County. 

The Pond and the Old-field Pine are also common an 1 little valued 
varieties. 

The Slash or Rosemary Pine grows only on low, moist land, and 
is somewhat sparingly diffused. It is the principal and largest timber 



30 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

pine on the low, flat but firm lands bordering on Albemarle Sound, 
and also farther south. In the rich swamp}'- lands on Roanoke River 
it is the giant of the forest, towering many feet abov^e the surrounding 
trees. It is to be lamented that this fine tree is becoming rare; but 
the attraction to its height and diameter was irresistible and must lead 
to its rapid extirpation. Some of these trees were 5 feet in diameter, 
and attained a height of from 150 to 170 feet 

The Cypress — Taxodiinn distidium — is found exclusively in the 
Eastern Section, growing in swamps, frequently rising out of the water, 
in which location it appears surrounded by its singular grouping of 
" cypress knees," rising in sharp, naked cones to the height of from 1 to 
3 feet, and awaking curious speculation as to their uses in the economy 
of the growth of the parent tree. The height of the cypress tree is 
from GO to 100 feet, with a circumference above its swollen base of from 
20 to 35 feet. The wood is strong and elastic, fine-grained, with little 
rosin, but very fragrant. It is little affected by heat or moisture, and 
is very durable. It is deciduous. It is largely used for shingles and 
wooden-ware, and often for the frame and woodwork of houses. 

A tree similar in its uses to the cypress is the White Cedar — 
Ciipnssus ihyoidc>^ — known generally, though improperly in its botanical 
relation, as juniper. In this State it is found in the Eastern Section 
exclusively, and is confined to swamps. It is an evergreen, with rich 
foliage and strikingly picturesque form, and is from 70 to 80 feet high, 
with a diameter of from 2 to 3 feet. The wood is fine-grained, light, 
easily worked, fragrant, and in color of a light, rosy pink. It is used 
in the making of shingles, which are preferred above all others for their 
freedom from splitting and their durability. They are largely used in 
the manufacture of churns and pails, and are the chief stock used by 
the recently established bucket factories in the State. 

Somewhat similar to the juniper is the Hemlock Spruce — Abies 
Canadensis — known in our mountains almost universally as spruce 
pine. It is confined to the mountains, and found on the margins of 
torrents, or diffused, somewhat thickly, through the cold swamps. The 
younger trees pos.sess much beauty in light-spreading spray, feathery 
foliage and lively color, and as ornamental trees are unsurpassed in 
charm. But in the older trees the limbs are short and few, and the 
foliage is confined to the upper extremities, though still a tree of savage 
picturesqueness. The height often attained is from 80 to 90 feet, with 
a diameter of from 3 to 6 feet. The timber is light and somewhat 



FORESTS. 31 

porous, but is often used in the interior work of buildings. Its bark is 
Vciluable in tanning, but the forests of the spruce pine or hemlock are 
not of sufficient density in this State. to rival other and more prolific 
sources of the supply of tan-bark. 

The Balsam Fir — Abies Fraseri — is one of those semi-Arctic trees 
which testify equally to high latitude or to great altitude of locality; 
for it is found only on mountains whose elevation exceeds 5,000 feet, 
and seldom forms a forest at a less elevation than 6,000 feet. On the 
Black Mountains, the peaks of which all exceed this latter elevation, it 
covers the ground to the exclusion of all other forest trees, and its 
sombre hue gives a name to that stately group. It is found on the 
highest summits of the Balsam Mountains, between the counties of 
Jackson and Haywood, and gives that range its characteristic name. 
It is found also on the high summits of the Smoky Mountains, there 
intermingled with deciduous trees; and also there attaining, in this 
State, its greatest size, being from 75 to 100 feet in height and 2 feet in 
diameter, while elsewhere the height is not more than 50 feet and the 
diameter 18 to 20 inches. The wood is white, soft and easily worked, 
yet little used because of its inaccessibility. From the smooth bark of 
this species issues a clear thin liquid, known as balsam, of an acrid taste, 
used as an ointment on cuts and sores, and also as an internal remedy 
in pulmonar}" and kidney troubles. It is found in small thin blisters 
which appear on the bark of the tree from top to bottom, and from 
each of which is obtained about half a teaspoonful of the liquid by 
the tedious process of perforating each blister with a small horn or 
metal scoop. 

The tree has a close pyramidal top, and is densely covered with 
plumes of flat narrow leaves, green above and white beneath, and very 
attractive in their light feathery forms and disposition. 

Another variety, the Black Spruce — A. nigra — is found intermingled 
with A. Fraseri, of similar form, but of smaller dimensions. Its bark 
is somewhat rough, and it exudes no balsam. The wood is strong, 
light and elastic, and is much used at the Xorth and abroad for yards 
and topmasts of vessels; in the future, perhaps, to find the same uses 
in this State. 

The trees last named are peculiar to the Mountain Section. All the 
others to be specified are diffused throughout the State, common in 
greater or less degree to all the sections, and will be mentioned without 
reference to special section or locality, with the exception of the 



32 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

LIVE OAK — Qaercus vlrens — and that, not because of its abundance, 
but as illustrating the extremes of the climate of North Carolina, 
which permits the growth and perfection within its territory of a tree 
appropriate in its habits to the soil and climate of warmer and more 
genial Florida. This tree is found on the coast from the vicinity of 
Southport, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, as far as the northern 
coast limits of this State, flourishing vigorously in the sandy loam and 
drawing vigor from the exhilarating breath of the adjacent ocean. It 
is a tree of spreading habit, the branches extended low over the ground, 
the small evergreen leaves forming a dense impenetrable shade, and 
presenting a mass of foliage of striking beauty. The tree attains the 
height of from 40 to 50 feet and a diameter of trunk from 1 to 2 feet. 
The timber is closer-grained and more durable than that of any other 
species of oak, and, before naval construction had adopted iron and 
steel as its principal material, was above all others valued for ship- 
building. It does not so abound on our coast as to have given induce- 
ment to its use; and the forests, or rather groves or specimens we have, 
may long remain as happy testimonials to the wide and happy range 
of North Carolina climatic conditions. 

Of the other oaks it may be said that North Carolina contains more 
species than in all the States north of it, and only one less than in all 
the Southern States east of the Mississippi. 

Of these, the White Oak — Q. alba — is one of the most widely dif- 
fused, one of the greatest in size, the most pleasing in appearance, and 
one of the most useful in its application. It is found from the coast to 
the mountains; on the coast, or in the Eastern Section, found in or on 
the borders of swamps, but in the other sections diffused promiscuoush' 
through the forest. It is characterized by a straight trunk, compact 
and rounded head, light, pleasing foliage, and clean, light-colored bark. 
Its height is from 70 to 90 feet, with a diameter of from 4 to 5 feet, 
which, however, is not common, except on the borders of streams, or 
in the Mountain Section. The uses of this variety are so many that it 
is universally recognized as the most valuable of its species, being used 
for house frames, mills and dams, vehicles, agricultural implements, 
cooper's ware, ship-building, and for all purposes where strength, dura- 
bility and elasticity are required. Its bark is highly valuable in tan- 
ning, where light color in leather is sought to be attained. 

The Swamp Chestnut Oak — Q. Prinus — and the SwA>rp White 
Oak — r^. diftcolor — are slight variations of a tree similar in size and 



FORESTS. 33 

uses. They grow to the height of from 80 to 90 feet with corresponding 
diameter, with timber of great strength and durabihty, and a foliage 
of pleasing, graceful character, the leaves being 6 to 8 inches long, with 
coarse rounded teeth on the edges, with a soft ashy-green tint which 
contrasts them with the usual vivid green of the quercus family. 

The Post Oak — Q obtnsiloba — is a tree of wide diffusion, having 
general similarity to the while oak, but is a smaller tree, with a height 
rarely exceeding 50 feet and diameter of 18 inches. It has a fine grain, 
great strength and elasticity, is largely used for fence posts, is highly 
valued by wheelwrights, coopers and ship-builders; and, with the 
white oak, supplies materials for liquor casks without a superior. 

The oaks which appear to have the widest distribution through the 
State are those carelessly or erroneously classed as red oaks, but with 
such points of difference as, in many sections, often in the same section, 
to command different names. Among these is the 

Spanish Oak — Q. Falcata — also known as the red oak, sometimes the 
turkey oak, from a fancied resemblance of its leaves, with its three 
divisions, to the track of the turkey. Ihis is one of the most common 
forest trees from the coast to the mountains, and is of a height of from 
60 to 80 feet with a diameter of from 4 to 5 feet. The outer bark is 
dark-colored, and the wood is reddish and coarse-grained. The wood 
is not very durable, and little used in building or the mechanical arts, 
but the bark is highly valued for its excellent qualities in tanning. 

The Black Oak — Q. Tinctoria — of the same family, differs from the 
preceding in having a deeply furrowed dark bark, and the leaves, 
which are cut into several divisions, from 5 to 7, and also from the 
number of small glands which roughen the surface in the spring and 
part of the summer. This tree attains a height of from 80 to 90 feet, 
with a diameter of 4 to 5 feet. The wood is reddish and coarse- 
grained, but is stronger than- others of its family, and, as a building 
material, is often used as a substitute for white oak. It is largely used 
in making staves. The bark is rich in tannin, largely used in tanning, 
and is also the material from which is obtained the quercitron of com- 
merce, so largely used for dyeing purposes. 

The Scarlet Oak — Q. cocclnea — of the same famil\', is similar to 
the above, the chief external difference being in leaf, which is more 
deeply cut, smooth on both sides, of a brighter green, and turning 
bright scarlet after frost. The wood is not durable, and the bark is 
inferior for tanning. 

The other principal variety of oaks is the AVillow Oak — Q. 
P/ic^^o.s— remarkable for the narrowness of its leaves and its pleasing 
3 



34 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

form; it grows in favorable cool moist situations to the height of from 
50 to GO feet, with a diameter of 2 feet or more. Its wood is coarse- 
grained, and has small economic value. 

The Laurel Oak — Q. laurifolia — resembles the above in general 
characteristics. Its leaves are broader. This is the shade tree of Wil- 
mington and other eastern towns. 

The Shingle Oak — Q. imbricaria — much resembles the preceding, 
but is a western or transmontane tree, not being found east of Burke 
or Wilkes. It is 40 or 50 feet high, 12 to 15 inches in diameter, with 
low spreading branches, casting a deep shade. The wood is hard and 
heavy. 

The Upland Willow Oak — Q. cinerca — is found only in the sand 
barrens of the Eastern Section, and attains the height of only about 
20 feet, with proportionate diameter. 

The AVater Oak — Q. aquatica — is abundant in the Eastern and 
parts of the Middle Section, and has little value. 

The Black Jack — Q. nigra — is a small and rather unsightly tree, 
with broad, dense leaves and limbs often hanging to the ground. It 
has little value except for fuel, in which capacity it is unexcelled. 

Besides these there is the Chestnut Oak, a tree of majestic size and 
beautiful foliage almost identical with that of the true chestnut, but so 
sparingly distributed as to have had few tests of its value; the 

Rock Chestnut Oak, found only on rocky hills and knolls, and is 
a handsome tree from the luxuriance of its foliage. Like the other, it 
has limited distribution, and is little used, though its bark is among 
the best for tanning purposes. Elsewhere it is used for certain purposes 
in ship-building. 

THE HICKORY, which is peculiar to North America, is represented in this 
State by six, perhaps seven, outof the ninespeciesfound on this continent. 
The general qualities of all of them are alike. For use in the mechani- 
cal arts, and domestic uses, the hickory family is universally valued; 
and some of the varieties are esteemed for their rich and flavored nuts. 

For weight, strength, and tenacit}' of fibre, we have no wood superior : but its 
value is impaired by a tendency to rapid decay on exposure, and its peculiar liability 
to iniurv from worms. Hence it cannot be used in buildings. But tlie wood of the 
different species is indiscriminately used for axle-trees, a.xe-handles, carpenters' 
tools, screws, cogs of mill-wheels, the frames of chairs, whip-handles, musket stocks, 
rake teeth, flails, etc., etc. For hoops we have nothing equal to it. These are made 
from young stocks. For fuel, there is no wood wliicli gives such intense heat and 
heavj- long-lived coals. For this use, although discrimination is seldom made, the 
common hickory is said to be the best, and tlie bitter-nut hickory the poorest. For 
timber, shell-bark and ])ig-nut hickories are roput(>d the best. 



FORESTS. 35 

The varieties are 

Shell-Bark Hickory — Carya alba — nearly absent from the Eastern 
Section, and abundant nowhere. It grows to the height of GO or 80 
feet, with small diameter. The tree is valuable for its white, thin- 
shelled, well-flavored nuts, surpassed only by those of the pecan of the 
same family. 

The Thick Shell-Bark Hickory — C. sulcata — is a rare tree, found, 
however, in Orange County, and resembles the above, except in the 
quality of the nut, which is harder and of less sweetness. 

CoxmoN Hickory — C. tomeutosa — common everywhere in the State, 
is the largest and the most valued of the whole famih'. It exceeds 60 
feet in height, with a diameter of about 20 inches. 

The Pig-Nut Hickory — C. glabra — is only thinly disseminated. It 
is about 80 feet high. 

The Small-Nut Hickory and the Bitter-Nut Hickory close the 
list of this family. 

THE WALNUT is found of only two species in this State. The most 
common, the 

Black Walnut — Juglans nigra — is not found in the Eastern Section, 
but occurs in comparative abundance in the Middle and Western Sec- 
tions. In the Western it attains great size, especially along the base of 
the Smoky Mountains, where a diameter of 7 feet is sometimes attained. 
It occurs singly, and is never grouped in large bodies. It is sought for 
eagerly for cabinet work. The wood is of a dark-brown color, strong 
and tenacious, with fine grain, frequently curled, and takes a fine polish, 
and is largely used for the interior finish of dwellings. The foliage is 
handsome, and it makes a fine shade tree. The leaves are highly 
aromatic, and the nut, which is of annual abundance, is rich and 
sweet. The thick husk of the nuts is used in dyeing woollens. 

The White Walnut — Juglans alba — is the butternut of the North- 
ern States. It is found in this State only among the mountains, and 
there found only upon bottom lands and river banks. It is a smaller 
tree than the black walnut, with smooth whitish bark and leaves of 
lively verdure The wood is valuable, though the tree is comparatively 
rare and little use is made of it. 

THE CHESTNUT, found somewhat sparingU' as far east as the counties 
of Randoli)h and Guilford, appears in the greatest abundance and 
attains its most majestic dimensions on the sides of the high mountains 
of the Western Section, and on the tops where the elevation does not 
much exceed 4,000 feet. In such locations its height is often 100 feet 
and its diameter from G to 9 feet. Its wood is light, strong, elastic and 



36 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

durable, largely used in making rails for fences, which last for half a 
century. It is also used for making boxes, and has come into use as 
an ornamental wood both in household furniture and in the interior 
woodwork of houses, its color being very agreeable, and the veining 
being quite beautiful. 

The Chinquapin is a dwarf variety in the South, found all over this 
State. It is usually a shrub from 6 to 12 feet high, branching thickly 
from the ground, and bearing profusely a small edible nut enclosed in 
a prickly burr similar to that of the chestnut. In frequent localities it 
assumes the form and dimensions of a tree, some specimens attaining 
a heisfht of from 30 to 40 feet, with a diameter of from 15 to 20 inches. 

THE BEECH is represented in this State by only one species — Fagus 
ferruginea — and is a very handsome tree, with its smooth, mottled gray 
bark and its shapely leaves, which, even in the winter time, and, 
changed by the frost to a delicate fawn-color, cling all through the 
winter to the boughs and retain a delicate and very attractive beauty. 
The tree is found rather sparingly in the Eastern Section, though fine 
specimens are found in the county of Pasquotank. In the Middle 
Section it is more abundant. In the Western Section it is abundant, 
and there reaches its greatest dimensions, being from 80 to 100 feet in 
height, wdth a diameter of from 2 to 4 feet. The wood is white, com- 
pact and tough, of uniform texture, and extensively used for plane 
stocks, shoe lasts and the handles of tools. 

THE BUCKEYE. — This tree greatly resembles the horse chestnut, an 
ornamental tree introduced from Asia, but scarcely more beautiful or 
desirable than its American cousin, which has not been thought worthy 
to be introduced into parks or pleasure grounds. There are two varieties 
in this State, one of which — ^Esculus jiava — is found among the high 
mountains of the Western Section, and there attains a great size. It is 
there a straight, tall and very handsome tree, with a trunk unobstructed 
by limbs or foliage for a great distance upward. It is often from 80 to 
100 feet high, with a diameter of from 3 to 5 feet. It loves a deep fer- 
tile soil. . Its foliage is of a rich deep green, and in the spring it is 
covered with clusters of large, showy, yellowish flowers, similar to 
those of the horse chestnut. Its wood is heavy but porous, and is little 
esteemed. 

The Red Buckeye — uE. Pavia — is the variety common to the Middle 
and Eastern Sections, found growing chieily on the rich margins of 
streams. It has clusters of dull reddish tiowers, and except that it is a 
mere shrub, from 10 to 12 feet high, it closely resembles the giant 
buckeye of the mountains. 



FORESTS. 37 

THE LOCUST — Rohinia Pseudacacia and the jR. Viscosa — are the chief 
representatives of this family in North Carolina. The first is the larger 
tree, attaining a height of t)0 feet or more, and is found in its wild 
state among the mountains. The wood is hard and compact and takes 
a high polish. It is largely used in ship-huilding for trunnels, which, 
instead of decaying, grow harder with age. These are exported in 
large quantities from Western North Carolina. The wood is used by 
turners as a substitute for box in the manufacture of bowls, salad 
spoons, &c. The foliage is airy and graceful, of a translucent green, 
and the profuse clusters of droo2')ing white and fragrant flowers entitle 
it to the favor it has gained as an ornamental tree. 

The Rose Locust is a shrub only, with foliage similar to the pre- 
ceding, and flowers of the same form, but of a deep rose color. This 
is found in all the sections, though that in the Eastern Section is much 
dwarfed. 

The Honey Locust is distinguished by its thin foliage, its thorny 
branches and its worthless wood, but tolerated for the profusion of its 
long honey-bearing pods, much used in making beer, and not unpal- 
atable as a fruit. 

The Catalpa is a valuable and handsome tree, of great beauty of 
foliage and flower, and is found sparingly in its wild state in some of 
the counties west of the Blue Ridge. It is widely distributed as an 
ornamental tree, and, as the timber is almost imperishable, might be 
cultivated to advantage for certain uses. 

MAPLE. — There are five varieties of this valuable tree. 

The Red Maple — Acer rubrum — is found in all the sections, and 
everywhere w^elcomed as the harbinger of spring with its early bloom- 
ing, bright, scarlet-winged flowers, and equally admired in the autumn 
when touched by the frost, and its leaves blaze with the splendors of 
its crimson hues. This tree grows to the height of 40 or 50 feet, with 
a diameter of 2 or 3 feet. The wood is of close fine grain and takes a 
high polish. Its many uses are well known. The Cukly Maple is 
not a distinct variety, but is the wood of the same tree where the grain 
of the wood has a winding direction. 

The White or Silver Maple is found only in the mountains, and 
is of smaller size. It is desirable as an ornamental tree from its spread- 
ing habit and from the beaut}^ of the leaves, green above and white 
beneath. The sap of this tree produces a finer sugar than that obtained 
from the sugar maple, but in far less quantity. 

The Sugar Maple — A. mccharinv.m — occurs abundantly in the 
Mountain Section and sparingl}^ in the other sections. It is a large 



38 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and very handsome tree, with a fine close-grained wood, but from its 
high value as the producer of sugar it is not much used for other 
purposes. This tree has a curled variety like the red maple, and also 
another and more precious than the curled maple, known as the bird's 
eye, well known in ornamental wood-work. 

The other varieties of maple are small, and rank onl}- a little higher 
than shrubs. 

THE ASH is found in several varieties, all of which have the distin- 
guishing qualities of strength and elasticity, furnishing one of the 
most valuable timbers to be found in the State. These varieties are 

Water Ash — Fraxinus Platycarpa — found only along the marshy 
bottoms of streams in the Eastern Section. 

Green Ash — F. Viridis — found along the banks of streams in the 
Middle and Western Sections. The tree is of moderate size. 

Red Ash — F. Pubescens — somewhat rare, found chiefly in the Middle 
Section, attaining a height of from 50 to 60 feet. The wood is redder 
than that of the white ash, harder and less elastic, but used for the 
same purpose; and 

White Ash — F. Americana — found in all the sections, nowhere 
abundantly, thriving best along streams and the borders of low 
grounds. It is from 50 to 80 feet high with a diameter of 2 or 3 feet, 
with straight stem and gray furrowed bark. The wood is strong and 
elastic,and is largely used by carriage-makers, wheelwrights and others, 
and is highly prized by those who use it. 

THE ELMS are found throughout the whole State, and need no descrip- 
tion. The largest and most valued is Ulmus Americana, prized for its 
beauty as a shade tree, but its wood has not much value. 

Small-Leaved Elm — U. Alata. — It has no beauty nor large dimen- 
sions, but its wood is tough, compact and fine-grained, and is valued 
by wheelwrights for the making of naves. 

Slippery Elm — V. Fulva — found in all the sections but most abun- 
dantly in the Middle. It is from 50 to 60 feet high. The wood is 
coarser than that of the other species of elm but is stronger, and is of 
the highest value in making ship's blocks. Its inner bark furnishes a 
mucilaginous preparation much used in colds and bronchial affections 
and for emollient plasters. 

WILD CHERRY — Pnmus scrotina — is found all over the State, but 
dwarfed in the Eastern and Middle Sections. Among the mountains, 
on rich and cool declivities, it assumes a different appearance. Its 
trunk, no. longer crooked and distorted, erects itself to the height of 
from 70 to 100 feet, straight as an arrow, and without a limb for three- 



FORESTS, 39 

fourths of its height above the ground ; the diameter is from 3 to 5 
feet. The wood is of a light red tint, compact and close-grained, and 
little apt to warp or shrink. It is highly valued for cabinet work, 
being equal to some of the most highly prized foreign woods, and since 
the mountain forests have been made accessible by the construction of 
railroads, the demand for cherry timber has greatly increased. When 
found at all it is abundant, the chief component of large forests. 

THE GUMS are useful trees, most common in the swampy lands of the 
Eastern Section, but some of the varieties are found in the other sections. 

Black Gum — Nijssa aquatica — from 30 to 40 feet high and 12 to 20 
inches in diameter, is found in the swamps of the lower Middle and 
Eastern Sections. The wood has its fibres so interlaced as to make it 
difficult to split, and is therefore largely used for hubs of wheels, hat- 
ters' blocks and other uses requiring great toughness. 

Tupelo Gum — N. multiflora — grows mostly in the moist rich uplands, 
and is a larger tree than the preceding, attaining a height of 60 feet 
and a diameter of 2 feet. Its wood is similar in quality to that of the 
above, and in addition to the uses mentioned are now largely used by 
the manufacturers of wooden plates, berry baskets, &c 

Cotton Gum — N. auriflora — is confined to the deep swamps of the 
Eastern Section, and is a larger tree than the preceding. Its wood is 
similar to those in toughness, but is much lighter and is easily worked, 
being manufactured into light bowls and trays. The roots furnish a 
substitute for cork as floats to buoy up seines. 

Sweet Gum — Liquid amber — is of a different species from the pre- 
ceding. It is found all over the State. It is from 40 to 70 feet high, 
and 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The wood is reddish, compact, fine-grained, 
and takes a high polish, and is applicable wherever toughness and 
solidity are required. Its beauty, when dressed, commends itself to the 
favor of the furniture maker. The beautiful star-shaped leaves, and 
the fine shape of the masses of foliage, make the tree very desirable 
as an addition to ornamental planting. The leaves have an aromatic 
fragrance, and the bark exudes an aromatic, transparent gum, very 
grateful to the taste, and of medicirial virtues. 

TULIP TREE, OR POPLAR — Liriodendron Tullpifcra — is unsurpassed, 
perhaps unequalled, by any other tree in the American forest. Majestic 
in size, graceful in form, the proportions of the giant clad in the vest- 
ments of a queen; mighty trunk and stalwart limbs softened into gen- 
tleness by a foliage dense, beautiful and singularly unique, and adorned 
with a profusion of yellow tulip-shaped flowers— Hercules masquerading 
in the graceful drapery of Omphale— a combination of size, strength, 
grace and delicacy presented by no other tree of the forest. 



40 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The tulip is found in all parts of the State, less common and of less 
size in the Eastern Section than elsewhere. In the Middle or'ection it 
grows abundantly and attains great size. But it most abounds in the 
Mountain Section, and there it attains its greatest height and largest 
diameter. Trees of ICO feet high and G feet in diameter are common, 
and instances of 8, 9 and 10 feet are well known. Near Clyde, on 
Pigeon River, in Haywood County, close by the track of the Western 
North Carolina Railroad, stands a church, the materials for the con- 
struction of which were drawn from a single tree of this species. The 
church is 50 feet long by 30 in width; all the timbers — the framing, 
the flooring, the roofing, the steeple, and also the shingles — were pro- 
vided by one mammoth tree, the diameter of which was 10 feet. 

The wood, white or yellow, according to the character of the soil, 
moist or dry, is yellow in the first and white in the other, and is largely 
used for building material, for coach panneling and other uses requiring 
lightness, strength and durability. The exportation from the Mountain 
Section to the Northern States and to Europe, in logs or sawed timber 
or lumber, has attained very large proportions. 

Very many other trees, from their abundance, size and value, might 
be added to ihe above. But it is deemed sufficient to give such as are 
described as just illustrations of the magnitude of the forest wealth of 
North Carolina. 

Of the others it need only be said in addition, that of the magnolia 
there are 7 varieties, including grandiflora, and the cucumber tree; of 
the poplars 3; of the birch 3, including, in the Western Section, the 
black birch or mountain mahogany, a large tree, with highly valuable 
ornamental wood; of the linn or lime 4, besides sycamore, hackberry, 
persimmon, mulberry, holly, dogwood, sassafras, and others valuable, 
all of them, in the mechanical arts. 

Of the shrubbery which falls below the dignity of trees there is 
infinite variety; and there is infinite variety in form, foliage and flower. 
Among these is the tStaartia Virginica, found in the Eastern Section, 
the only representative on this continent of the Camellia family or the 
tea plant ; of graceful form and foliage, with large, pearly-white trans- 
lucent flowers, silky on the outside, covered within with a circle of 
stamens and bright purple filaments and blue anthers; a very beautiful 
plant, worthy of cultivation, yet unknown beyond its native habitat, 
and without a popular name. 

The Snow Drop Tjike — Halcsia ietraptcva—is found sparingly in the 
western part of the Middle Section, and abundantly among the moun- 
tains along the water-courses. In some places it attains the dimensions 




RHODODENDRON AND AZALEA, 



FORESTS. 41 

of a tree; its foliage closely resembles that of the ox-heart cherry. Its 
branches are thickly hung with white or })ink bell-shaped flowers, in 
size and shape similar to the snow drop of the gardens. It appears to 
be unknown to cultivation, but is eminently deserving of consideration. 

Of the Rhododendron, or Laurel, there are four varieties, including 
the splendid rose-colored Catawbiense. It grows most luxuriantly 
among the mountains in cool sequestered shades, covering large tracts 
with impenetrable " laurel thickets," the retreat of wild animals, and 
the barrier to the hunter. The laurel is found sparingly east of the 
mountains, small groups of it being found on the rocky banks of Mor- 
gan's Creek, near Chapel Hill, and on the shaded north side of the 
Occoneechee Mountains near Hillsboro. 

The Ivy — Kalmia latifoUa — often called calico bush, conspicuous for 
the profusion of its white or pink angular bell-shaped and delicately 
dotted flowers, covers many parts of the mountains with dense thickets, 
and is frequent in the Middle and parts of the Eastern Section as far 
as Fayetteville, growing on the steep banks of streams with a northern 
exposure. 

The WiCKY, a smaller variety of the ivy, is found in the Eastern 
District in the small pine-barren swamps. The plant is more erect 
than the ivy, less dense, but the flowers are similar, though more deeply 
tinted. 

The Azalea presents several varieties, among which are the orange 
and lemon colored, peculiar to the mountains, growing in large dense 
clusters, and adding singular beaut}' to the landscape from the con- 
spicuous glow of its masses of bloom. There is also a white variety 
peculiar to the mountains, in its growlh clinging close to the water- 
side, and of great and delicious fragrance. In all sections the pink 
azalea, or honeysuckle, abounds, and in the Eastern Section, among 
the pine barrens, is found the white or clammy honeysuckle, of ques- 
tionable fragrance and undecided beauty. 

The Fringe Tree — Chionanthus Virginica — often called old man's 
beard, draped with plumes of snow-white, fringe-like flowers; the white 
and snowy hydrangea, the syringa, the mock orange, with flowers 
on loose nodding racemes, white and very fragrant, in size and form 
much resembling the blossom of the orange; the strawberry bush 
{Euonymus Americana), with its long slender green branches, long 
pointed leaves, and the fruit — its chief beauty — of a bright crimson 
color, with rough warty surface, exposing, when mature, bright scarlet 
seeds, before bursting resembling a ripe strawberry; the sweet shrub 
{Calicanthus floridus), common in the Middle and Western Sections, 



42 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

admired for the vinous or fruity odor of its chocolate-colored flowers; 
and the wax myrtle of the Eastern Section with fragrant leaves — all 
these are some of the many plants which adorn the floral wealth of all 
parts of North Carolina, and make its sections so rich a field for the 
research of the botanist or the pleasure of the amateur. 

Among the rare vegetable products peculiar to North Carolina, and 
in it restricted to narrow limitations, is Venus' Fly Trap (Dioncea vius- 
cipida), found only in marshy places near the mouth of the Cape Fear 
River, a flesh eater, catching the living fly, and deriving its chief 
nutriment from the body of the insect; and the Shortia, found in a 
very small space in Alexander County, remarkable as the surviving 
member of a prehistoric flora, and found elsewhere only in Japan. 

CLIMATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

It will be conceded without question that the influence of climate on 
human progress is supreme, because, in its happy or adverse conditions, 
are involved all that relates to comfort, health, energy and success in the 
occupations which enlist human eff'ort. The regions that most abound 
in fertile soil, exuberant vegetation, and which favor the production of 
the most valued and most profitable subjects of agriculture, are those 
that most often have those treasures closed against the efforts of industry 
by those extremes of heat and those excesses of moisture against which 
the physical frame of the cultivator is unable to contend ; and the most 
prolific lands of the most abounding regions of the world are so 
oppressed with heat, saturated with moisture, or poisoned with miasma, 
as to make the attainment of their treasures the evidences of their 
cost in vigor, health, or of life itself. 

That land is a happy one which enjoys the just mean between cold 
and heat, drought and moisture, arctic sterility and tropical exuberance ; 
a land in which energies are stimulated by the bracing breath of a 
tempered atmosphere, cool enough to inspire physical action and elastic 
vigor; warm enough to assure the rew^ards of labor by the certainties 
of healthful maturity and abundant yields as returns for the labors 
bestowed, carried on under the happy conditions of a genial air, a 
friendly sun, and of a responsive soil. 

Such are the conditions which North Carolina enjoys, with no portion 
of it either too cold on the one hand or too hot on the other to obstruct 
work at any season of the year, while at the same time presenting most 
remarkable apposition of the high temperate atmosphere of the North 
and the balmy breath of the semi-tropical South. In passing from east 



CLIMATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 43 

to west, from the low lands of the coast, only a little elevated above the 
tide, to the high summits of the mountains, a mile or more above the 
sea, there is found the same gradation in temperature, in soil, in prod- 
ucts, as if the same territory, instead of stretching from east to west 
over a number of degrees of longitude, had extended itself from south 
to north over the same number of degrees of latitude, thus giving to 
the Stale not onl}'- a soil which gives something of every product 
yielded by all the other parts of the United States, but a climate not 
alone favorable to its own people, but inviting the invalid from every 
other part of the country, North, South, East and West, to seek under 
its recuperative influences the blessings of renewed health, the restora- 
tion of impaired vigor, or the arrest of insidious ailments. 

The eastern margin of the State is thrust far out into the ocean and 
brought within the soft influences of the Gulf Stream, assuring thereby 
not only the vegetation of a more southern latitude and its earlier and 
more rapid development — an important element in the success of the 
now great interest of truck farming — but of a clim'ate so modified by 
a not excessive degree of heat and moisture as to be more constantly 
mild and genial, if somewhat more debilitating, than that enjoyed in 
the interior or farther west. On the other hand, the western margin 
lifts itself up to such heights as to gain all the advantages of a high 
latitude — a cooler climate, more invigorating atmosphere, more hardy 
and more vigorous vegetation, and a general healthfulness not sur- 
passed on any portion of the globe. Intermediately lies that great 
zone, between the coast and the Mountain Section, emphatically a warm 
and genial temperate zone, with neither extremes of heat or cold, with 
a healthfulness unequalled over so extensive a territory, and with such 
general favoring conditions of soil and climate as to emphasize its 
special adaptation for the perfection of all the grains, field crops and 
fruits of the temperate zone. 

HEALTHFULNESS. — Malarial diseases occur in summer and autumn in 
the Eastern Section, and in the lower portion of the Middle Section, 
chiefly along the river courses, but not of a malignant or dangerous 
type. And in latter years, with increased clearing of the lands and the 
greater and more perfect drainage, these have decreased in frequency 
and intensity. The general salubrity of the Eastern Section is indi- 
cated by the vigorous and robust appearance of the population, and the 
numerous instances of high stature and corpulent person, not found in 
the same region in the admittedly more salubrious climate of the Mid- 
dle and Western Sections. These last are remarkably healthful, only 
in the Middle Section along some few rivers being found any degree of 



44 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

deleterious malarjal influeuces. In the sanitary department of the 
Census Reports, it is pronounced that one or two of the three most 
health}-^ localities in the United States are found in Western North 
Carolina in the mountain region. And it may be said here tliat in this 
latter region pulmonary consumption has never been known to origi- 
nate, though tiiat fatal disease is not there unknown. This feature of 
the climate has given celebrity for its remedial agency in such diseases, 
and caused the resort to it from all parts of the Union of invalids, find- 
ing in numerous instances decided amendment or perfect cure. 

Epidemics of fatal diseases are unknown. The visitations of Asiatic 
cholera, scourging in its various visitations almost every other section 
of the country, have spared or overleaped North Carolina, with not even 
the exception of sporadic cases. The yellow fever has only at rare and 
distant intervals visited a few of the seaports, notably Wilmington in 
1862. The grippe, so universal within the past two years, has partaken 
of the character of an epidemic, rarely however in a fatal form. 

The temperature, the rainfall, the snowfall, the relative humidity, 
and other climatic features will be illustrated by scientifically elaborated 
tables iippended to the end of this chapter. Here, it may be said in 
regard to tlie first that July is the hottest month of the North Carolina 
year; that for the spring the average temperature for the whole State 
is 57, for summer 77, for autumn 59, and for winter 41; the lowest 
winter mean being at Boone, in the mountains, and the highest at 
Southport, on the coast, which is 50. Or, taking typical points in each 
section as comparative points, we find the mean annual temperature of 
Raleigh, in the Middle Section, to be 00, its summer temperature 70, 
and its winter temperature 44, which, compared with Florence, Itah'^, 
shows the latter to have respectively the temperatures 59, 75 and 44. 
In the Eastern Section, Beaufort, on the coast, shows as the mean 02, 
78, 46; while Genoa, Italy, has (il, 75 and 47. In the Mountain Sec- 
tion, Asheville shows mean temperatures for the year, for summer and 
for winter, of 54, 71, 38, compared with Venice, Italy, which has 55, 
73,38 — an unexpected similarity of temperature with that of far-famed 
sunny Italy. 

The cold of our winters is never prolonged and rarely excessive — in 
the Eas'ern and Middle Sections rarely falling below 10° Fahrenheit, 
though in the latter it has reached zero. In the mountain plateaus it 
is somewhat colder, there being a difference of about 10° in favor of 
the Middle Section. The heat in summer is not near so excessive in 
mid-summer as in the States farther north ; and while these are sub- 
jected to brief epidemics of deadly sunstroke, here it is very rarely 
experienced. 



CLIMATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 45 

THE RAINFALL varies throughout the State with the different sections. 
For the whole State the average varies httle from o3 inches, annually, 
subject to the fluctuations of what may be called wet or dry years; for 
there is no fixed uniformity, though observations made through a long 
series of years gives the average here stated. The: average for the 
Mountain Section is the smallest, that of the Eastern and Coatt Section 
the greatest, and that of the Middle Section intermediate between the 
two. ^[ore minute details will be given farther on. 

SNOW. — So ftir as observations have gone, the average annual snow- 
fall in the State is assumed to be 6 inches. The amount in the Eastern 
or Coast Section is hardly appreciable, 4 inches in the Mountain, and 
Q^ in the Middle and a portion of the Elastern Section. In some win- 
ters the fall of snow is very small; in others there occur single phe- 
nomenal storms, so rare as to be referred to as eras; in such cases a 
depth of from 2 fett to 30 inches having been attained. Contrary to 
popular belief the snows, while more frequent, are less deep among the 
mountains than on their eastern slope and in the Middle Section. As 
there is less rainfall so there is less snowfall in the Western than in the 
Middle Section. North-east winds and storms are unknown in the 
mountains. The wand-bearing clouds are from the south-east, dis- 
charging themselves most often in rain, with a sufficiently low lemper- 
ature in snow, sometimes of considerable depth, but rarely covering 
the ground for a week at a time. Upon the change of wind from the 
south-east to the north-west, the inevitable course of a mountain rain 
or snow-storm, there is a sequence of violent snow-squalls, lasting 
through 24 to 36 hours, but rarely ever accumulating to the depth of 
more than an inch. The well-remembered blizzard, which ushered in 
the meeting of the Southern Interstate Immigration Convention, held 
at Asheville on December 17, 1890, was a signal and very violent 
exception. 

FROSTS rarely occur before the 10th of October, and in the Eastern Sec- 
tion are frequently delayed until the middle of November. The cutting 
of tobacco is very rarely, though sometimes, anticipated by a killing 
frost. Late frosts, as late even as the oth of May, the sequence of abnor- 
mally hot weather, closed with violent atmospheric disturbances, occa- 
sionally occur to the great injury of fruits and truck farms. 

What is known as the thermal belt of the Mountain Section may 
properl}^ be referred to in connection with frost on the principle of lucus 
a non lucendo; for in this thermal belt, so elevattd, frost is unknown, 
or so light in its formation as to be of no detriment to fruits and vege- 
tation. This belt, or locality of exemption, is found on both sides of 



46 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the mountains, the most noted of which is on Tryon Mountain, in Polk 
County: and so sharply defined are the lines of exemption that it stands 
out before the eye a horizontal belt of verdure between parallel lines 
above and below of blasted flower and foliage. Professor Kerr, in 
explanation of the cause of the phenomenon, says: "Suffice it to say, 
that it is due to the nocturnal stratification of the atmosphere of these 
mountain-enclosed basins, the different horizontal belts having ditfer- 
ent degrees of humidity whereb}" the surface radiation is controlled." 
Or it may be explained by the conflict in those mountain-enclosed 
basins between the stratifications, the lower stratum, heated by the rays 
of the sun during the day, rising by the force of natural laws into 
the upper air, the colder body ; while the upper stratum, under force of 
the same laws, continually descends until towards dawn the}' meet at 
a point of equilibrium when farther descent is arrested b}-^ the influence 
of the rising sun, and the formation of frost is no longer possible. The 
fact remains that within the limits of these frost belts, fruits never fail, 
and at the height of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet frosts never fall. Such 
localities are found along the face of the Blue Ridge in Burke and 
McDowell Counties, along the face of the South Mountains in Burke, 
in the Brushy Mountains in the several counties through which that 
range passes, and at many points in the mountains west of the Blue 
Ilidge. In the future, this phenomenal section must become of inesti- 
mable value in fruit and viticulture; for nowhere else is there such 
certain assurance of the security and maturity of peaches, and other 
tender fruit crops, or of the grape; to the successful cultivation of the 
grape the soil and the general conditions of the climate ofl'er numerous 
inducements. 

THE POPULATION OF THE STATE. 

This is a topic of interest to the people of North (^arolina from the 
marked fact of their present homogeneousness, excepting, of course, 
the important and large element of the African race, and the smaller 
and inferior remnant of the aboriginal Indian, still in possession of a 
large territory in the western part of the State, and the still smaller 
body of half-breeds known as the Croatans, occupying a portion of 
Robeson Count}', and believed, fancifully or otherwise, to be the descend- 
ants of the lost members of the lost colony of Captain John White, the 
first effort at permanent settlement made by Anglo-Saxon whites on 
the American continent. The whites of this State, now so intermingled 
and blended by intermarriage and industrial intercourse as to present 



THE POPULATION OF THE STATE. 47 

between ihem few distinctive traits of their origin, are tlie descendants, 
mediately or immediately, of the dominant European races coming 
directly to our shores, but more largely the off-shoots of the northern 
colonies grown populous and powerful enough to indulge in that early 
development of the American characteristic, love of change and adven- 
ture, or the more practical motive of bettering their condition by the 
acquirement of new lands, unrestricted in limit, of nearly nominal 
cost, and with the fame of unbounded fertility and unequalled salubrity. 

Of those coming direct to our shores, the immigrating colonies were 
small and infrequent. After the efforts of colonization on the waters 
of the north-eastern section of the State, under the auspices of Sir Walter 
Raleigh and his successors had failed, a long interval pas-ed away .before 
decided or successful effort was made to plant other colonies on our 
shores. Among the more ambitious and well considered schemes was 
that of Sir John Yeamans, who, about the year 1059-'60, landed within 
the mouth of the Cape Fear River a body of several hundred colonists 
of English birth or descent from the island of Barbadoes. A settlement 
at about the same spot had previously been made b}'- adventurers from 
New England, who thus made this section favorably known, and who 
eventually abandoned it, disappointed in over wrought expectation. 
In like manner the colony of Sir John, or the larger body of it, moved 
first to Port Royal, in South Carolina, and subsequently to tlie spot 
where they founded the present city of Charleston, but leaving behind 
them the impress of a good name and a high character, permanently 
stamped and manifesting itself upon their descendants in the present 
city of Wilmington and other points on the lower Cape Fear. 

In 1709 the Bg,ron De Grafifenreid, with a colony of Swiss, estab- 
lished himself at the confluence of the rivers Neuse and Tient, and 
there founded the present city of Newbern — a settlement destined to 
be permanent, but of slow growth, and receiving few farther accessions 
from the native land of the founder. 

A small colony of Huguenots found a refuge from persecution in the 
same section, but, beyond the impress of their principles and their 
names, contributed onl}^ in small degree to the settlement of North 
Carolina. 

Perhaps the largest bod}^ of native Europeans coming approximately 
at one time, and constituting a distinctive foreign element, was the 
Scotch or Highland colon}', which occupied the country along the upper 
waters of the Cape Fear, now known as the counties of Bladen, Cum- 
berland, Moore, Robeson, Richmond and Harnett. These came, some 
voluntarily, most of them by compulsion, after the disastrous defeat of 



48 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Culloden in 1746. They have also blended with the other European 
families, but still retain in marked degree their national characteristics 
of piety, morality, and care of education. 

The Lords Proprietors, through their influence and inducements 
offered, added to the population, which, however, came in singly or in 
small groups and increased slowly, though early in the colonial history 
making the Eastern Section the most populous in the State. 

The other chief elements of settlement were refugees from religious' 
persecution in Virginia, who gradually filled up the north-eastern 
peninsula around tlie waters of Albemarle Sound and contiguous ter- 
^ito^3^ In process of time bodies of immigrants arrived from New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania, hearing of the rich lands and fine climate of 
the upper country. Some bodies of these were of German descent. A 
still larger body was Scotch-Irish. Both planted themselves in harmo- 
nious contiguity from Orange County on the east to Catawba County — as 
that county became eventually known — along the rich bottoms or the 
finely timbered uplands of the Eno, the Yadkin and the Catawba 
Rivers, and became the foundation of that population destined to prove 
in coming years its love of liberty, its hostility to oppression, its 
indomitable courage, its wakeful care of education, its intense religious 
fervor, its energies and its industry; a population, withal, so widely 
difi'used as to have been greatly instrumental in forming the character 
of the North Carolinian by the domination of these leading traits and 
qualities. 

The location of his large colony of Moravians by Count Zinzendorff", 
in 1754, in the present county of Forsyth, is the only instance of 
attempted complete isolation, of the seclusion of an entire colon}-, and 
the culture of peculiar ideas and creeds — ideas and creeds more in 
harmony with the real aim and ends of a pure Christianity than 
human philanthropy has often aimed to put in practical force. This, 
like all other colonies, has in process of time blended with the great 
mass, but with the distinct and triumphant survival of its nobler 
characteristics — benevolence, integrity, devotion to morality, religion 
and education, and that untiring energy which brought prosperity to 
the wilderness colony, and future increase of growth and wealth to 
those fine towns, Winston and Salem, the matured, or rather still grow- 
ing and maturing outgrowths of the simple, pious, unambitious, reli- 
gious Moravian colony. 

Of the negro population it suffices to say that it is chiefly descended 
from the slaves captured in former years in Africa, and introduced into 
the South by English, Dutch, and, in later years. New England slave- 



THE POPULATION OF THF: STATE. 49' 

ship?. Importations of slaves into North Carolina was very rare after 
the beginning of this century. The increase, therefore, has been from 
natural causes, a genial climate, a humane public system and the kindly 
temper of the owners, a temper softened as much by humanity — very 
often by affection — as it was influenced by interest. Through these 
combined causes the negro population increased until it early attained 
the ratio to that of the whites it has held and still holds — about one- 
third of the whole. 

Since the emancipation of the race, the policy of the State govern- 
ment, sustained by a just and humane public sentiment, has done 
everything consistent with the existence of insuperable and ineradica- 
ble ethnical antagonisms, to efface all the badges of former slavery. 
The negro has all the rights of the citizen, and is secured and protected 
in the exercise of them, with the same jealous safeguard of the law as 
the white citizen. He testifies before the courts without question as to 
race competency ; he accumulates, if he will, property, personal and 
real; he is admitted on equal terms with the whites to the practice of 
the learned professions; he has the amplest freedom in the exercise of 
his religious beliefs, and the most absolute control in his ecclesiastical 
affairs. His infirm, the deaf, the dumb, the blind and the insane, are 
cared for by the State in institutions, proportionately to the number of 
patients, as large, as well built, as costly, and as well supervised by 
competent heads, as those of the whites. His education is well provi- 
ded for, and though he pays a little more than one third of the poll-tax, 
and one-thirtieth of such property tax as is assigned to the maintenance 
of the school fund, his allotment of that fund is in proportion to popu- 
lation, not to that of race contribution. Apart from the colleges, some, if 
not all, of which are largely sustained by contributions from the North- 
ern States, the negro shares in the Normal Institute system which is sus- 
tained by the State. He holds, also, his Annual Industrial State Fair, 
organized and controlled by his own race, but aided by annual appro- 
priations from the State Treasury, and encouraged by the good will and 
active co-operation of the whites, thus having conspicuous opportunity 
to give evidence of his progress and his capacity to maintain friendly 
rivalry in the industrial field with the dominant race. 

The Indian portion of the population is confined to the mountain 
counties of Jackson, Swain and Graham. They are a remnant of the 
tribe which was removed in 1836 to the trans-Mississippi reservation, 
and which obtained the consent of the government to be exempted from 
the decree of expatriation. The}' were allotted in the counties above 
named a tract of about 100,000 acres, and left in the enjoyment of their 
4 



50 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

former habits and customs. A restraining influence was exerled over 
them, with the purpose of bringing them gradually in conformity to 
the usages of the whites. They were taught the principles of Chris- 
tianity, instructed in the ruiiiments of the English branches of learn- 
ing, induced to abandon their nomadic habits and adapt themselves to 
agricultural life. Tliey have schools among them ; and a high school, 
under the supervision of the general g )vernment, is established at Yel- 
low Hill, in Swain County, where children of both sexes are best taught, 
and also trained to mechanical, industrial and domestic arts. 

Most of the tribe are christianized, and many of them speak the 
English language, though all letain and prefer to use their native 
tongue. They are quiet, peaceable, rarely violators of the law, but 
generally indolent and shiftless, and making slow progress towards the 
higher standards of civilization. They number between 1,500 and 
1,800, and increase slow^ly. 

Of the Croatans of Robeson County, little definite can be said. Their 
origin is involved in doubt, though it is clear that they form a mixed 
and distinct class of the blended Indian and white races. They may 
be called civilized, engaged in agriculture, trading and the mechanical 
arts, with more of energy and thrifc than the native Cherokees. They 
are ordinarily law-abiding, though their vivacity of temperament some- 
times leads to violent individual outbreaks and development of savage 
and revengeful temper, as was illustrated some years ago in the memo- 
rable Henry Berry Lowry incident. These people are provided by the 
State with their separate schools, and they take great interest in the 
educition of their children. 

The aggregate population of North Carolina by the Census of 1880, 
was 1,399,750; by that of 1890, 1,617,947— an increase of 218,197. It 
is cliissifitd as follows: Whites, 1,049,191; colored, 567,170; Chinese 
and Japanese, 15; lu'lians (excluding Croatans), 1,571. 

The foreign-born populaiion is, by the same census, 3,742. The 
descendants «>f foreigners form a considerableelement,but their numbers 
di» not materially affect the homogeneousness of the mass of population. 
The large bodies of immigrants which annually lodge themselves in the 
territory of the United States, direct themselves to other homes than 
are to be found in the South Atlantic States. The immigration into 
North Carolina is largely from the New England, Middle and some of 
the North-western States, and gives many and much desired and much 
valued accessions to sources of material development. 

The following table of population, as prepared from the Census Tables 
of 1890, is to be accepted as accurate: 



THE POPULATION OF THE STATE. 51 

Whites. Colored. Total. 

State total 1,055,382 562,565 1,617,947 

Coimties. 

Alamance 12,688 5,583 18,271 

Alexander 8,588 842 9,430 

Alleghany 6,061 462 6,523 

Anson 10,237 9,790 20,027 

Ashe. 15,033 595 15,628 

Beaufort. 11,869 9,203 21,072 

Bertie 7,885 11,291 19,176 

Bladen 8,646 8,117 16,763 

Brunswick 6,139 4,761 10,900 

buncombe 28,640 6,626 35,266 

Burke 12,378 2,561 14,939 

Cabarrus 12,683 5,459 18, 142 

Caldwell 10,737 1,561 12,298 

Camden 3,347 2,320 5,667 

Carteret 8,528 2,297 10,825 

Caswell 6,639 9,389 16,028 

Catawba 16,073 2,616 18,689 

Chatham 17,214 8,199 25,413 

Cherokee 9,655 321 9,976 

Chowan 4,010 5,157 9,167 

Clay 4,055 142 4,197 

Cleveland. 17,301 3,093 20,394 

Columbus 11,804 6,052 17,856 

Craven 7,175 13,358 20,533 

Cumberland 14,952 12,369 27,321 

Currituck 4,731 2,016 6,747 

Dare 3,362 406 3.768 

Davidson 18,174 3,528 21,702 

Davie 8,769 2,852 11,621 

Duplin 11.600 7,090 18,690 

Durham 10,712 7,329 18,041 

Edgecombe... 8,513 15,600 24,113 

Forsyth 19,433 9,001 28,434 

Franklin.. 10,755 10,335 21,090 

Gaston 12.927 4,837 17,764 

Gates 5,539 4,713 lo'252 

Graham 3,137 176 3,313 

Granville 12,122 12.362 24.484 

Greene 5,281 4,758 10,039 

Guilford 19,820 8,232 28,052 

Halifax 9,614 19,294 28,908 

Harnett.. 9,453 4,247 13.700 

Haywood 12,829 517 13,346 

Henderson 11,211 1,878 12,589 

Hertford 5,906 7,945 13^851 

Hyde 4,962 3,941 s'gOS 

Iredell... 19,516 5,946 25,462 

Jackson 8,680 832 9,513 

Johnston 19,917 7,322 27,239 



52 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Counties. Whites. 

Jones 3.885 

Lenoir 8,517 

Lincoln 10.038 

McDowell - - - . 9, 1 14 

Macon - 9,436 

Madison 17,095 

Martin 7,888 

Mecklenburg 23,141 

Mitchell ---■ 13,253 

Montgomery 8,982 

Moore -..- 13,985 

Nash - 12,186 

New Hanover 10,089 

Northampton 9,224 

Onslow 7,392 

Orange 9,705 

Pamlico 4,767 

Pasquotank.- 5,201 

Pender 5,967 

Perquimans 4,719 

Person 8,251 

Pitt 13,192 

Polk 4,807 

Randolpli 2 1 , 848 

Richmond 10,989 

Rolieson 1 6,629 

Rockingham 1 5, 197 

Rowan 17,142 

Rutherford 15,073 

Sampson 15,960 

Stanly 10,629 

Stokes 14,386 

Surry 16,926 

Swain 5,652 

Transylvania 5,368 

Ty r reil 3 , 000 

Union 15,712 

Vance 6,434 

W^ake 26,093 

Warren 5,880 

Washington 4,961 

Watauga 10,180 

Wayne 15,11 5 

Wilkes 20,633 

Wilson 10,884 

Yadkin 12,421 

Yancey 9,197 



Colored. 


Total 


3,518 


7.403 


6,362 


14,879 


2,558 


18,586 


1,825 


10,939 


666 


10,102 


710 


17,805 


7.383 


15.22\ 


19,532 


42,673 


555 


12,807 


2,257 


11,239 


6.494 


20,479 


8,521 


20.707 


13.937 


24,026 


12.018 


21,242 


2,911 


10,303 


5.243 


14,948 


2,379 


7,146 


5,547 


10,748 


6,547 


12.514 


4.574 


9.293 


6,900 


15,151 


12.327 


25.519 


1,095 


5,902 


3,347 


25.195 


12.959 


23.948 


14,854 


31,483 


10,166 


25,363 


6.981 


24.123 


3.697 


18,770 


9,136 


25,096 


1,507 


12,136 


2,813 


17,199 


2,355 


19.281 


925 


6,577 


513 


5,881 


1,225 


4.225 


5,547 


21,259 


11,147 


17,581 


23,114 


49,207 


13,480 


19,360 


5,239 


10.200 


431 


10.611 


10,985 


26.100 


2,042 


22,675 


7.760 


18.644 


1,369 


13.790 


293 


9.490 



GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. 53 



GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. 

The government of North Carolina is a pure democracy. It is based 
upon the will of the people as expressed in the Constitution, an instru- 
ment framed by them in their sovereign capacity through delegates 
appointed for that purpose. The will of the people of this and of each 
Slate, when thus expressed, and in coufjrmity to the Constitution of 
the United States— for the will of the people of each State is subordi- 
nate to the collective will of the people of all the States — is the supreme 
law. The State Constitution thus made is the measure and test of all 
laws passed by the Legislature, and these laws must stand or fall by 
their agreement or disagreement with it. 

The Constiiution is a short instrument but wide in its scope and 
bearing. It contains a brief statement of the fundamental principles 
of civil and individual liberty, creates the different departments of gov- 
ernment — Executive, Legislative and Judicial — and prescribes the 
powers of each; establishes educational, charitable and penal institu- 
tions; directs who shall be liable to duty in militia; and prescribes the 
rights of citizenship. 

The Legislature enacts laws. The Judiciary passes upon them when 
a question arises as to their constitutionality, and expounds them when 
a question is presented as to their meaning. The execution of the law 
is entrusted to the Executive. The Executive in this State possesses no 
veto upon the acts of the Legislature. AVhen the law is once made, 
his duty, as that of every other citizen, is obedience in his sphere. 

The rights of citizenship is the only point for consideration here; 
and these depend upon age, residence and previous citizenship. 

A citizen of a foreign country can make himself a citizen here by 
becoming a resident; declaring before the proper tribunal his purpose 
to become a citizen; and taking the prescribed oath of allegiance. 

A citizen of any other of the United States becomes a citizen here by 
changing his residence from that State to this. 

All persons who are born and continue to reside within this State are 
citizen^' thereof. 

The chief privilege of citizenship is suffrage. The Constitution 
ordains that, " every male person born in the United States, and every 
male person who has been naturalized, twenty-one j^ears old, or upward, 
who shall have resided in this State twelve months next preceding the 
election, and ninety days in the county in wdiich he offers to vote, shall 
be deemed an elector." 



54 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Suffrage here embraces the right to vote for every officer in the State 
from the Governor down to constable. One only exception to this 
principle exists in this State — that is in the case of Justices of the Peace. 
These are appointed by the Legislature. Logical consistency was sacri- 
ficed in this case to secure what, in the judgment of the Convention, 
was a point of far higher importance, namely, the sound administra- 
tion of justice in the county, and the administration of county finances, 
both of which are under the control of the Justices. In many of the 
eastern counties the colored population largely predominates. Newly 
emerged from slavery, and consequently ignorant of the duties of citi- 
zenship; ignorant of the law and therefore incapable of administering 
it; themselves without property and therefore without the judgment 
necessary to administer the finances of a community; it was deemed 
best to repose the power of making magistrates in another body; thus 
guarding those communities against error, whether of ignorance or 
design, until experience and education should make those colored 
majorities safe repositories of such power. This provision of the Con- 
stitution was inspired by no feeling of enmity toward the colored man ; 
it was a provision of safety as well for the colored as for the white man. 
The provision was made impartial in its operation; it applies to every 
county in the State, whether the majority be white or black, and the 
object was secured. No such provision was necessary in the cases of 
officers elected by general ticket, for there the experience of the white 
population accustomed to the exercise of citizenship and educated to its 
responsibilities would counterbalance the inexperience of the colored 
race. 

Citizenship under the Constitution of North Carolina carries with it 
high and important rights apart from suffrage. It confers a right to 
an education by the State, such as will cjualify the citizen for the duties 
to be performed. If he be without property, it gives him a right to 
support from the county, if incapable of earning it by sickness or old 
age. If he have property and is overtaken b}-- irremedial misfortune, 
it exempts from execution personal property to the value of five hun- 
dred dollars, and vests in the owner in fee-simple the homestead and 
the dwellings and the buildings used therewith not exceeding in value 
one thousand dollars, to be selected by him. The unfortunate have 
thus a secure refuge in case of disaster in business. 

It regulates taxation b}' providing that the General Assembly levy- 
ing a tax shall state the object to which it is to be applied, and enjoins 
that it be applied to no other purpose. It establishes an equation 
between the property and the capitation tax by directing that the capi- 
tation tax levied on each citizen shall be equal to the tax on property 



GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. 55 

valued at three hundred dollars in cash. The cnpitation tax is levied 
on every male inhabitant in the State over twenty-one and under fifty 
years of age, and shall never exceed two dollars on the head. The 
effect of this limitation upon the capitation tax restricts the tax on each 
hundred dollars worth of property to sixty-six and two-thirds cents. 
It further directs that the amount levied for county purposes shall not 
exceed the double of the State tax, except for a special purpose and with 
the approval of the Legislature. 

The rate of State tax now levied for the present year is 28 cents on 
one hundred dollars valuation, besides 15 cents for school purposes. 
In addition there are taxes levied on certain pursuit?, industries and 
interests devoted to certain purposes, some in aid of the general school 
fund, some for pensions. 

The following statement from the State Auditor's Report for the year 
ending November 30, 1l91, sets forth the aggregate number and value 
of the various subjects of taxation in the State, and the gross amount 
of the State, school and county taxes derived from the same: 
I 

STATE TAXES. 

Number. Valuation. 

7,374.295 acres of land ....$107,031,851 $267,579 63 

44,645 town lots 34,893,805 87,234 01 

139,005 horses... 7,279,768 18,199 42 

101,609 mules 5,790,626 14,426 56 

789 jacks and jennies 41,069 102 67 

37,944goats. 29,278 73 19 

627,767 cattle.. 4,849,192 12,122 98 

1,194,865 hogs 1,561,553 3,903 88 

383,601 sheep 392,142 980 35 

Value of farming utensils, etc 12,134,455 30,336 14 

Money on hand or on deposit 4,201 ,447 10,503 62 

Solvent credits 20,166,452 50,416 13 

Stock in incorporated companies 2,739,179 6,847 95 

Other personal property 15,762,557 39,406 37 

Total valuation $216,872,374 

$376,265 net income and profits 2,112 34 

Theatres - - 405 00 

Traveling theatrical companies. 60 00 

Concerts and musical entertainments for profit 252 50 

Lectures for reward 33 00 

Museums, waxworks or curiosities. . j 48 00 

Circus or menagerie 600 00 

Sideshows 250 00 

Shows under canvass, etc 700 00 

Carried forward $ 366,593 74 



56 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Brought forward $ 366.593 74 

Billiard saloons. 1 .378 00 

Bowling alleys, skating rinks, etc - 518 33 

Public ferries, toll-bridges, etc - . 248 15 

Livery Q2o 50 

Itinerant dentists, opticians, etc 100 00 

Commission merchants . - 663 51 

Merchants or other dealers 28,893 52 

Dealers in spirituous liijuors 3, 101 87 

Peddlers 1,404 09 

Itinerant merchants . 25 00 

Dealers in fruit trees 15 00 

Itinerant lightning-rod dealers 50 00 

Liquor dealers — Class 2 1,500 00 

Tobacco warehouses 2,015 00 

Marriage licenses 12,312 38 

Subjects unlisted 198 87 

Delinquents 529 87 

Arrears for insolvents 122 81 

Double taxes 1 ,068 97 

Total general taxes |601,249 91 

SCHOOL TAXES. 

153,480 white polls 299,994 43 

60,832 colored polls 90,420 34 

Bank stock 3,278 48 

Eailroad property 16,971 73 

General property— white 283,953 13 

General property — colored 8,735 13 

Licensed dealers in spirituous liquors 70,639 12 

From tines, forfeitures and penalties 7,080 10 

From other sources 1,416 48 

Total school taxes $712,489 53 

COUNTY TAXES. 

County purposes 691 ,590 65 

Special county taxes. .j 202.861 49 

Total county taxes $894,451 54 

On white polls there is levied a tax of $229,904.32; on colored polls, 
$90,420. On general property the whites pay a tax of $280,904, and 
the colored people a tax of $8,735.36. In addition to this general tax, 
there is a tax on bank stock, railroad property, licensed liquor dealers, 
fines, &c., and some minor sources, most of which is paid by the whites. 

The Executive power of the State Government is vested in a Gov- 
ernor and a Lieutenant Governor, elected by the })opular vote for the 



GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. 57 

term of four years, both ineligible for two successive terms; an Attorney 
General, a State Treasurer, an Auditor, a Secretary of State, and a 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, all of whom are eligible for 
reelection. 

The Legislative department, also elected by the popular vote, elected 
for the term of two years, and holding biennial sessions. The Senate 
consists of 50 members, and is presided over by the Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor of the State, and the House of Representatives, of 120 members, 
presided over by a Speakei' elected from among the memljers of the 
same. The sessions are limited by the Constitution to sixty days, but 
may be prolonged on emergency, but with suspension of the 'per diem 
pay. Extra sessions may be called by the Governor should urgent 
cause make it necessary; but such sessions are limited to twenty days, 
but may be extended farther, under the limitations of pay that govern 
the regular ses^ions. 

The Judicial department consists of a Supreme Court, presided over 
by a Chief Justice, and, in conjunction with four Associate Justices, 
forming the highest court in the State. The Justices are elected for a 
term of eight years, and are eligible to reelection. 

The Circuit or Superior Court is composed of twelve members, elected 
by the people of a like number of districts, and are elected for the 
same length of term and the same eligibili'y to reelection as the Justices 
of the Supreme Court. 

In addition to these are the criminal courts of New Hanover and 
Mecklenburg and of Buncombe, having original jurisdiction in all 
criminal matters originating in their respective counties, but having 
none in civil causes of action. 

The above, together with the magistrates' courts, having jurisdiction 
over small sums and minor offences, and the Boards of County Com- 
missioners, having supervision over, the direction and administration 
of county affairs, constitute the judicial system of North Carolina. 

STATE DEBT. 

The following statement, drawn from the report of the Public Treas- 
urer submitted to the General Assembly at the session of 1891, exhibits 
the amount of the bonded debt of the State at the time of the enactment 
of the law of March 4, 1879, "An act to compromise, commute and 
settle the State debt." 

These bonds include only the obligations of the recognized bonds, 
those known as the special tax bonds having been declared unconsti- 
tutional and invalid. 



58 HAND-BOOK OF NOKTH CAROLINA. 

The recognized bonded debt, recognized by the forenaraed act, are 
the following : 

Bonds issued before May 20, 1861 , the last date of which class is April 1 . 

1861, exchangeable at forty per cent $ 5,477,400 00 

Bonds issued during and since the late war, for internal improvement 
purposes, and certificates of State Board of Education, exchange- 
able at twenty -five per cent. 3,261 ,045 00 

Bonds issued by authority of funding acts of March 10, 1866, and 

August 20, 1868. exchangeable at fifteen per cent ' 3,888,600 00 

Total recognized debt..-. $ 12,627,045 00 

Bonds have been surrendered and exchanged, as follows: 

Class 1, at forty per cent $ 5,081,900 00 

Class 2, at twenty-five per cent 2,637,045 00 

Class 3, at fifteen per cent 3,332,100 00 

Total amount of bonds exchanged I 11 .051 .045 00 

New four per cent, bonds have been issued as follows, in exchange: 

For bonds at forty per cent $ 2.032.760 00 

For bonds at twenty-five per cent 659,261 25 

For bonds at fifteen per cent 499,815 00 

$ 3,191.836 25 

The amount of new four per cent, bonds issued embraces certificates of fractional 
sums of less than fifty dollars given in exchange, which are receivable for new bonds 
of the denominations prescribed in the act. 

The fundable bonds not surrendered, are as follows: 

Redeemable at forty per cent .$ 395,500 00 

Redeemable at twenty-five per cent 624,000 00 

Redeemable at fifteen per cent 556,500 00 

Amount of old bonds outstanding $ 1,576,000 00 

The following is the summary of the two classes of new bonds issued: 

Four per cent, bonds $ 3,219,100 00 

Six per cent, bonds 2,720,000 00 

$ 5,939,100 00 

Tliis latter debt, $2,720,000, was incurred for the construction of the North Carolina 
Railroad, which is in great part owned by the State. The income from the dividends 
realized by the road is not only sufficient to pay the interest, but leaves a surplus 
which is regularly funded from year to year, the aggregate of which will extinguish 
the debt at the maturity of the bonds. This debt does not now impose, nor will it in 
future impose, one cent of taxation upon the people of the State. The first amount, 
$3,589,511.25, therefore represents the entire debt for which the property of the State 
is subject to be taxed. 

The total valuation of real and personal property in North Carolina is. according to 
the Auditor's Report for 1890, |216,872,374. But the valuation of property in this 



RELIGION. • 59 

State is known to be from one-third to one-half below its real value. For the purpose 
of ascertaining the true value of the property of the State, an addition in that pro- 
poi'tion must be made to the valuation above given. Taking, however, the valuation 
as given in the Auditor's Report, it will be seen that a tax of seven and one-lialf cents 
upon the liundred doUars worth of property will pay the interest upon the whole 
State debt. 

But there exists in fact no necessity for such a tax, light as it would be. The act 
under which the debt was conii^romised, appropriates certain taxes therein enume- 
rated, known as privilege taxes, to the payment of the interest; and by the terms of 
the act this appropriation is made a part of the contract between the State and the 
bondholders, and is therefore inviolable. From this source the amount realized is so 
large, that the remainder of the interest is pi-ovided bj' a tax of only four cents on the 
hundred dollars worth of the property of the State. 

RELIGION. 

The religious denominations of North Carolina stand upon absolute 
equality in respect to the laws. The vigorous temper of the people 
during Colonial daj'^s in resisting the imposition of a State religion has 
never relaxed ; and the absolute severance of Church and State became 
a cardinal and inviolable principle in the assumption of popular 
sovereignty. The laws and the Constitution extend no special favor to 
creed or denomination, assuring freedom to all to worship God according 
to the dictates of their own consciences. 

The following table presents as accurately as can be ascertained the 
present membership of the various denominations in the State. Two 
of them, the Cnristian and the Protestant Methodists, are classed with 
their denominations of other States, there being no separate State 
report : 

Methodist Episcopal Conference (white) 1 18,895 

A. M. E. Zion (colored Methodist) 32,000 

M, E. Church (Methodist) 7,200 

Christian (O'Kelleyites) in Virginia, Georgia and North CaroUna. 10,000 

Protestant Methodists in North Carolina and Virginia 7,000 

Quakers 4,500 

Lutherans 4, 150 

Roman Catholics 1 ,000 

Moravians 2,000 

Presbj'terians 25,553 

Episcopalians 7,751 

Baptists (Missionary, white) 170.335 

Baptists (Missionary, colored) 150,675 

Baptists (Anti-Missionary) 9.750 

Baptists (Campbellites) 6,000 

Baptists (Free-Will). 6,516 

Whole number of Missionary Baptists 321 ,010 



60 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH OAROLIXA. 

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 

The machinery of the State government is aided or amplified in its 
operations by the assignment of certain special functions to be dis- 
cliarged by agencies adapted to tlieir [)erformance. 

These public institutions have oversight over certain penalties 
attached to the violation of law, and also of carrying out those methods 
provided for the cure or amelioration of mental suffering and physical 
infirmity, of those scientific investigations designed to elevate the arts 
of agriculture, or search into the causes of agricultural disasters, or aid 
•the agricultural population to reap the surest rewards of their industry' 
by intelligent direction of their labor through information imparled 
by competent directors; and in general the public institutions comprise 
all such wise and enlightened principles that tend to enlighten the popu- 
lar mind, add to its prosperity, relieve its sufferings, mitigate its burdens, 
and practically illustrate the mutuality cf intertst existing between the 
State and the people, between the government and the governed. 

These institutions consist, in general terms, of the charitable and 
penal institutions, of the Agricultural Department and Agricultural . 
College, of the Agricultural Experiment Station, of the Geological 
Museum, of the State Library, of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 
Railroad Commission, of the Orphan Asylum, and, in a literal form, of 
the public buildings in which to conduct the many operations incident 
to the institutions named above. 

THE STATE HOSPITALS, originally known as the Asylums for the Insane, 
are three in number — one for the whites at Raleigh, another for the 
same race at Morganton, and one for the colored at or near Goldsboro. 
The first is near the city of Raleigh, occupying a building, of brick, 
three stories in height, and upwards of 700 feet in length, and with 
capacity to accommodate, at the time of it?, construction, all the insane 
patients that might be presented for admission. Dr. William R. Wood 
is the present Superintendent, and the number of patients at the date 
of the last report was 29(3 — 142 males, 154 females. 

The Western Hospital.— The increasing number of applications 
for the admission of insane patients compelled legislative action to 
provide other and ampler provision for them, and the institution at 
Morganton was built, a structure of upwards of 900 feet in length, and 
with every convenience of ample grounds, water, and whatever was 
necessary as curative or ameliorative adjuncts to the relief of mental 
disease. The institution is under the supeiintendency of Dr. P. L. 
Murphy. At the last report the number of patients was 490 — 233 
males and 257 females. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 61 

Eastern Insane Asylum. — Upon the addition of the colored race 
to the ranks of citizenship, their claims, their rights and their necessities 
required provision for the treatment of their insane; and a large and 
commodious hrick structure was erected near the town of Goldsboro, a 
place most accessible to the centre of colored population. The insti- 
tution is conducted on precisely the same principles, controlled by the 
same rules, and furnished with the same conveniences as are provided 
for the institutions for the whites. Dr. J. F. Miller is Superintendent. 
At the last report the number remaining in the institution was 231 — 
males 98, females 133. 

DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND INSTITUTION.— The original institution was estab- 
lished in Raleigh in 18 IG, and now occupies the whole of one of the 
squares reserved by the State for its own uses in the plan for the laying 
out of the city of Raleigh, The whole is now covered with suitable 
buildings, or laid out in grounds with hard shaded walks. The instruc- 
tion is such as is suited to make useful and self-supporting citizens out 
of those so unfortunate as to be denied the senses of sight, speech and 
hearing, and the results have been highly satisfactory. 

The Colored Department, under the same general supervision, occu- 
pies suitable buildings and grounds in a different part of the City of 
.Raleigh, in no wise inferior, except in extent, to those provided for the 
whites. 

The last biennial report — to Nov. 30, 1890 — gives the following as 
the number, sex, color, and infirmity of the pupils: Deaf mutes, males, 
82; females, 82. Blind, males, 71; females, 58; a total of 293. Of 
these there were colored deaf mute males 26, females 27. Blind males 
17, females 18. Mr. W. J. Young is Superintendent. 

All of these charitable institutions are liberally supported by bien- 
nial appropriations from the State Treasury, and pupils or patients are 
taught or treated without charge. 

The increasing number of applications to the blind department in 
the Asylum at Raleigh, in connection with the also increasing number 
of deaf and dumb, enforced the necessity of ampler provision for the 
latter; and the Legislature, in its session of 1891, provided for the erec- 
tion of an additional institution at Morganton, which is not yet com- 
plete. 

THE PENITENTIARY.-Under the provisions of the Constitution of North 
Carolina, adopted by the Convention of 1868, provision was made for the 
erection of suitable buildings for the confinement, detention and employ- 
ment of such violators of the law as had subjected themselves to the 
penalties of a lengthened period of imprisonment. These buildings 



62 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CARODINA. 

were ultimately located in Raleigh, and are at length so far completed 
as to be fully applicable to their designed purposes. Architecturally 
they are large and imposing in style, with every safeguard for the 
security of prisoners — every provision for health and proper comfort, 
and every facility for useful employment. The policy, originally 
desio-ned. to confine all the prisoners within the walls of the institution 
at work, or in idleness, was promptly abandoned in the change of parties 
in 1870; and since that period only those confined for life, or for des- 
perate crimes, or those under infirmity, are rigorously confined within 
the premises, together with such as might be usefully and profitably 
assigned to needed mechanical work, under the eye of the Superintend- 
ent. The others, the able-bodied and the shorter term convicts, were 
applied to such outside work as would return some revenue to the insti- 
tution, or diminish the costs of such work as the State was executing 
in its sovereign capacity. Thus in the latter, the Governor's Mansion, 
the Supreme Court building, and others have been constructed, bricks 
made, stones dressed, &c.; and in the larger field of outside work, exten- 
sive railroad lines have been built, canals dug, swamps drained, in all 
of which compensation, not always reaching full reimbur.sement to the 
State, has been made. The policy of making the Penitentiary self-sus- 
taining by undertaking work heretofore done at small charge on the- 
legitimate basis of a hired labor system, and the leasing and working 
of large farms by a force familiar to the work, and the crops under 
culture has proved successful, and now, instead of being a charge upon 
the State, the Penitentiary is becoming a source of revenue. 

The system is as humane as is consistent with the idea of punish- 
ment of crime, but guarded against needless rigor or wanton cruelty by 
the periodical visits of commissioners appointed by the State. 

The number of convicts at the last report made to the Legislature of 
1891, was 1,302, of which 217 were white males, and 7 white females; 
and 1,034 colored males, and 42 colored females, and 2 Indian males. - 

Paul F. Faison is President of Board of Directors, and W. J. Hicks 
Architect and Warden. 

THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. — Nothing SO clearly indicated the 
determined and intelligent purpose of the leading minds of North 
Carolina to elevate its great and chiefest interest to its rightful dignity 
and prominence, and to prove also its claim to consideration, to respect, 
as an avocation employing brain as well as muscle, as when the Legis- 
lature met promptly and unreservedly the demands of the intelligent 
agricultural interest and established the Agricultural Department; and 
in doing so there was no ha'f-way movement. The equipment of suit- 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 63 

able and handsome and conveniently arranged buildings was ample- 
the apj)ropriations for the maintenance of the various branches of the 
department liberal, and the powers given for the enforcement of the 
legislation which declared the purpose and defined its duties abundant. 
Therefore the Agricultural Department came into existence with the 
enthusiastic sanction of popular sentiment and under the shield and 
protection of the public law, and stands not only a monument to 
the enlightened spirit of the age, but a beacon light of hope and 
encouragement to that great fundamental interest which, more than all 
others, has been the victim of neglect, the least consideration of states- 
manship. 

It must be stated, briefly, that the Department occupies a building 
in the city of Raleigh, originally large and convenient, but now 
arranged so as to be specially adapted to its many uses; and that in the 
prosecution of the work assigned to it it has done— and this will suffice 
to illustrate its usefulness— what is expressed in the words of another: 
" It has saved to the State thousands of dollars annually ; it has induced 
investments of large amounts in the mines, forests and agricultural 
lands of the State, and has developed the phosphate beds, the oyster 
grounds, and the mineral deposits and coal fields of the State; it has 
gathered statistics and published valuable books descriptive of the 
whole State, and distributed them so wisely that this is among the best 
advertised 3tates; and has, as its last and greatest effort, the organiza- 
tion of the successful College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts." In 
its relation to the former it has been, and continues to be, of inestimable 
value to the farmer. For as in the advam ement of agriculture into 
the ranks of a science, so was there enormous application of the pre- 
sumably scientificdlly compounded artificial feriilizers. Here was 
opened a wide and gaping door to fraud, which the Department was 
empowered to step forward and close. This has been done so v gor- 
ously, watchfully and effectively that fraudulent fertilizers are banished 
from the market, trustworthy brands have replaced them, and at the 
same time a great reduction in the cost has been made. 

Mr. John Robinson is Commissioner of the Department, and Mr. T. 
K. Bruner is the Secretary and Auditor. 

By recent Act of Assembly, Mr. Robinson is also charged with the 
duties of Commissioner of Immigration, and to him all inquiries should 
be addressed on matters pertaining to immigration, and for information 
of the locality, nature and value of lands, or upon any subject inviting 
to investment in the pursuits and iudustries of this State. 



64 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND MECHANIC ARTS, RALEIGH. 

The mission of tlie North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts and its general purpose is to teach the principles and application 
of the sciences, illustrating sound theory by daily practice, as to make 
out of its students useful and successful men, instead of mere intelligent 
drones. 

One of the special objects of the College is to foster a higher appre- 
ciation of the value and dignity of intelligent labor and the worth and 
respectability of laboring men. 

Some of the very best thinkers of our own time in this and other 
countries have acknowledged the advantage of manual training of 
boys and young men in well equipped schools, and institutions of this 
kind are now being recognized as among the practical necessities of 
every Commonwealth. 

In all branches of industr}- the competition of the world is bringing 
about a closer margin of profits, and demand is made upon men of 
every calling to study the best methods and closer economy in first 
production. The whole trend of such institutions is calculated to work 
out such economic results. 

The College is intended, not to produce theorists, but practical young- 
men, who will become intelligent farmers, horticulturists, cattle and 
stock raisers, dairymen — men who will be interested in making their 
work profitable. 

The State also has need of good mechanics, carpenters, architects, 
draughtsmen, contractors and manufacturers, and the College will help 
to make them. 

While the College will give practical instruction to as many of our 
youth as it can accommodate, it is made the duty, as it will be the 
pleasure, of the members of the Faculty of the College to take an active 
part in Farmers' Institutes, which are accomplishing so much of good in 
many States of the Union, and which have happily been inaugurated 
by the Board of Agriculture and by tho farmers themselves in our State. 

The Professors will be at the service of the farmers of the State when- 
ever they can impart such special information as may be sought at their 
hands. They will be glad to furnish the best methods of building and 
filling silos, of planning barns, stables, &c. They will also be expected 
to investigate and furnish thoroughly approved formulas for remedies 
in diseases of cattle, for destruction of insect pests, formulas for com- 
posting, etc. 

Location. — The College site and farm, in all comprises a tract of 
about sixty-two acres. 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 65 

Siluate on a commanding eminence, on the Hillsboro road, one of 
the principal higinvays into Raleigh, at the distance of three-fourths of 
a mile from its corporate limits, the site is, in all respects, a suitable 
one. The ground slopes from the building in every direction, giving 
almost perfect drainage, as well as handsome views of the College build- 
ings from every direction. 

Buildings. — The present buildings are of North Carolina brick. Tiie 
granite used is from Wake County, the brownstone from Anson County. 

The main building is 170 by 90 feet, part one story and basement. 

Every precaution has been taken for good sanitary arrangement. 
The class-rooms and dormitories are large and well-lighted, and the 
remaining rooms, such as dining-rooms, chapel, reading-rooms, &c., are 
well arranged. 

A carefully planned brick workshop, two stories high. This building 
contains a machine-shop, forge-shop, woodwork shop, carpenter shop, 
class-room, office, and washroom, and is equipped for thorough work in 
every particular. 

It is intended to erect, as rapidly as means will permit, barns, silos, 
stables and the like, which shall be models of their kind. Meanwhile, 
for all purposes of instruction, are already erected on the Experiment Sta- 
tion Farm large buildings for such purposes, that the students will have 
the use of, near by the Agricultural and Mechanical College. 

In the basement of the main College building ever}^ convenience has 
been provided for housekeeping, and no facility is lacking in the board- 
ing department. 

Mr. Alexander Q. Holladay is at present President of the institution. 

NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, ALSO THE FER- 
TILIZER CONTROL STATION AND STATE WEATHER SERVICE, ORGANIZED 1877, 
RALEIGH, N. C, is under the control of the Board of Trustees of the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College, and as now constituted is apart 
of the College. The officers of the Station are : 

H. B. Battle, Ph. D Director and State Chemist. 

F. E. Emery, B. S .Agriculturist. 

Gerald McCarthy, B. Sc - Botanist and Acting Entomologist. 

W, F. Massey, C. E Horticultui-ist. 

C. F. VON Herrmann (U. S. "Weather Bureau)... Meteorologist. 

B. W. Kjlgore, B. S - Assistant Chemist. 

F. B. Carpenter, B. S Assistant Chemist. 

T. L. Blalock, B. S - Assistant Chemist. 

J. S. Meng, B. S.. Assistant Chemist. 

Alexander Rhodes Assistant Horticulturist. 

RoscoE NuNN (U.S. Weather Bureau) Assistant Meteorologist. 

J. L. Cdninggim, a. B Secretary. 

5 



66 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 




PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 67 

The functions of the Station are two-fold : First, as a Fertilizer Con- 
trol Station ; second, as an Agricultural Experiment Station in the 
broadest sense of the word. 

North Carolina has always shown herself to be a pioneer in new 
works, and is always in the first rank in the establishment of new 
institutions for the advancement of her interests. She established the 
first Agricultural Experiment Station in the Southern States, and the 
second in the broad expanse of America. The Station which thus came 
into existence in 1877 was a portion of the North Carolina Department 
of Agriculture. Its first work was in the control of the fertilizer trade 
by a chemical analysis of the fertilizing ingredients offered for sale in 
the State, thus preventing fraud and forcing manufacturers to furnish 
the materials they claim to sell. It continues to occupy this position 
for the protection of all classes of farmers and other buyers, and it is 
safe to say that in the fourteen years of its existence it has saved the 
farmers of the State many millions of dollars by preventing the sale of 
adulterated and worthless fertilizers. In the early years of its life the 
chemical investigation was its main work. Besides analyzing fertilizers 
it also examined, free of charge, hundreds of samples of marls, mucks, 
soils, cotton seed products, tobacco products, phosphates, waters, home- 
n:iade composts and miscellaneous fertilizing ingredients, chemicals, etc. 
It printed and spread broadcast hundreds of thousands of its publica- 
tions, giving information on almost every subject connected with agri- 
culture, among which especially were formulas fo»r composts and home- 
made fertilizers and the utilization of waste products. It thoroughly 
examined the natural phosphate deposits of the State, the pyrite 
deposits, the bye products of the rice industry, the cotton and tobacco 
products, the possibility of the jute industry for North Carolina, the 
sorghum and sugar beet industry, the investigation of horn, leather 
and wool waste, of phosphate floats, of soja bean, and various forage 
plants, and others just as important. 

Later on an Experimental Farm was added to the agencies at work 
at the Experiment Station. Then a State Weather Service was organ- 
ized by the Station, and the various benefits resulting from it, such as 
the foreknowledge of frosts and cold waves, and weather indications, 
M'ere gained to the State. 

During this time the Experiment Station was supported b}^ the Stale 
from funds derived from the fertilizer tax. In 1887, however, the 
United States Congress passed the Hatch Act, which appropriated 
money from the General Government for the support of Experiment 
Stations in every State and Territory. It should be gratifying to all to 



68 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



know that the Station (except amount required for Ihe fertilizer control) 
is steadily working for the benefit of the agriculture of the State with- 
out the expenditure of a single cent of the State's resources, either 
directly or indirectly, for its support. With the coming of the govern- 
ment funds the scope of the work was greatly enlarged. There are 
now in operation in the Station the divisions of Chemistry, Agriculture, 




STABLES AND DAIRY BUILDINGS— Fig. 1. 



Botany, Entomology, Horticulture, Meteorology, and on its staff are 
both scientific and practical men, trained experts who have had ample 
experience both in the science and practice of agriculture. 

The various divisions at present belonging to the Station, and some 
of the work which is being done in them, are as follows: 

1. Chemical T^u'^.sion— including all chemical work of the Station — 
the fertilizer control, the analyses of milk, butter, food and fodders, 
marls, phosphates, mucks, soils, chemicals, waters, etc., too numerous 
to mention. 




STABLES AND DAIRY BUILDINGS— Fig 2. 

2. Agricultural Division.— Emhraces work done in the field, stable, 
and dairy — in testing the various fertilizing ingredients on different 



PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. 69 

crops; the varieties of wheat, oats, cotton and corn, grasses, clovers and 
other forage plants. By actual feeding tests to ascertain the value of 
fodders and grass, ensihige, cotton-seed products for fattening purposes, 
the digestibility of different food stuffs, and profitable feeding. In the 
dairy work various implements are tested, improved methods tried, and 
in general to extend the dairy industry throughout the State, recog- 
nizing that the judicial keeping of stock is the salvation of our people. 

3. Cooperative Experiments. — To reach as many soils as possible, and 
to disseminate knowledge of the work, cooperative field tests have been 
instituted in various localities in the State. Here are tesied, on the 
various soils represented, the various fertilizing ingredients on different 
crops, different varieties of field and garden crops, fruits, grapes, and 
in general, in conjunction with the Central Station at Raleigh, to conduct 
w^ork which may be helpful to those localities. 

4. Botanical Division. — Tests the purity and vitality of field and 
garden seeds, grasses and clover, identifies plants and ascertains their 
value, examines diseases of plants and investigates the best remedies; 
disseminates practical information on the best agricultural grasses and 
their culture, on the most troublesome weeds and how to eradicate them. 

5. Entomological Division. — Studies the various insect pests which 
infest the field, orchard and garden crops, and suggests remedies and 
methods of extermination. 

6. Horticultural Division — Inv^estigates the different varieties of fruits 
and vegetables, and their adaptability to our soils and climates, also the . 
methods for cultivation, gathering and shipment to markets; originates 
and improves new and promising varieties which may become valuable 
to the State. 

7. Meteorological Division. — Embraces the State Weather Service, oper- 
ating in conjunction with the VV^eather Bureau of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. Collects meteorological data from over 
the State, and preserves it for permanent record. Telegrams giving 
forecasts of weather for the following day are distributed ; also cold 
wave and frost warnings for the protection of fruit, tobacco and truck- 
ing interests. A weekly bulletin, showing the effect of the weather on 
the crops, is issued during the growing season. 

8. Bureau of Information. — Correspondence is invited on all subjects 
connected with agriculture, both scientifically and practically. The 
staff of the Station is at all times ready to reply promptly, and give 
the proper information wherever possible. 

9. Division of Publications. — The Experiment Station issues numerous 
publications, including bulletins and annual reports, which are sent 
free to all who request them. The matter printed in them is presented 



70 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in as plain and practical a style as possible, avoiding technicalities and 
unnecessary words. The bulletins are issued only when the material 
on hand justifies it — averring once in about five or six weeks. Over 
13,000 farmers and others now receive them. The following are some 
of the subjects treated, and occupying, each issue, from 8 to 96 pages: 
Compost formulas, seed tests, stock feeding on scientific principles, 
cooperative field tests, Indian corn, farm and dairy buildings, weed 
pests of the farm (illustrated), co' ton-seed meal and hulls as a stock 
feed, hill-side ditching, some injurious insects, value of pea-vine 
manuring for wheat, facts for farmers, onion and celery culture, late 
crops of Irish potatoes in the South, tobacco curing by the leaf cure on 
wire and the stalk processes, &c. 

The chemical laboratories and the city offices of the Station occupy 
the entire first floor of the right wing of the Agricultural Building, 
Raleigh. In this building also are located the botanical and entomo- 
logical laboratory, and the rooms of the meteorological division con- 
stituting the Weather Service. Upon the roof are the meteorological 
instruments for recording velocity of wind, temperatures, direction of 
wind, etc., as well as signal flags to disseminate the weather forecasts. 
The Experimental Farm, on which are the Experimental barn, stable, 
dairy-house, plant-house (see illustration), is located adjoining the State 
Fair Grounds and in close proximity to the grounds of the Agricul- 
tural College. 

ORPHANAGES 

May be regarded as public institutions, in connection with those devoted 
to charity previously considered; for two of them, at least, are aided 
by appropriations from the State Treasury, and the omission of the 
others devoted to the same generous purpose, while perhaps technically 
right, would not be morally just; because the relief of the orphan 
and his equipment for future usefulness and respectability is as much 
the expression of the sentiment of the people through the church as 
through legislation, and in that view all the Orphanages become public 
institutions, 

THE, OXFORD ORPHAN ASYLUM is the first of these established in the 
State, and was organizeil and equipped at Oxford, Granville County, 
but not originally in its present effective and useful character. The 
Orphanage is the successor of St. John's College, established by the 
Masonic Fraternity of North Carolina bef >re the war, and in its man- 
agement and career the subject of two financial disasters; to avoid the 
recurrence of which, on the motion of Mr. John H. Mills, the College 



ORPHANAGES. 71 

was converted into an Orphanage. At that time the poverty of the 
country was extreme, and, as one of the results of the war, the number 
of orphans very great. The change of character of the institution 
assured its inmates food, raiment and lodging, instruction and training 
and equipment, mentally and physically, for future self-support. The 
institution was largely kept alive by appeals to public aid and gen- 
erosity, until its importance and the obligation resting upon the State 
for the public charge and care of such an ever-present body of helpless 
unfortunates so impressed itself upon the intelligence and conscience 
of the people as to make the demand upon the Legislature for material 
aid irresistible. The State now appropriates annually from the Ti'easury 
$10,000, but the management is retained in the hands of the Masons. 

The Orphanage occupies the buildings and capacious grounds of St. 
John's College; and farm work, mechanical trades, printing, &g., 
together with the plainer branches of learning, are taught the boys, 
and also the fjirls, to whose course of instruction is added needle- 
work, housekeeping and domestic duties; and thus every year a large 
number of both sexes are sent forth to earn their own living, fortified 
with good characters and efficient training. 

THE THOMASVILLE ORPHANAGE is near Thomasville, Davidson County, 
and is under the patronage of the denomination of Baptists. It is 
under the immediate supervision of Mr. John H. Mills, the founder of 
the preceding. The Oiphanage occupies a number of well-built 
detached buildings, separated as a safeguard against general conflagra- 
tion, and for the security of health. Grounds of one hundred acres or 
more surround the buildings, and are cultivated by the male pupils to 
the extent of materially aiding in the maintenance of the Orphanage. 
THE THOMPSON ORPHANAGE, at Charlotte, is maintained by the Epis- 
copalians, occupies ample grounds, and is equipped with all necessary 
buildings. It is supported by private contributions or collections in 
the churches, and its general objects are the same in relation to the 
orphans as rule in the Oxford Asylum. 

THE PRESBYTERIAN ORPHANAGE, at the Barium Springs, in Iredell 
County, that the denomination of Presbyterians might care for its own 
helpless. Unfortunately the buildings were not long since burned, 
and have not yet been replaced, though preparations for doing so are 
in progress. 

THE ODD FELLOWS ORPHANAGE is located at Goldsboro, and was opened 
on the 10th of M^iy, ]8!)2. As its name implies, it is under the auspices 
of the Odd Fellows of North Carolina, and is designed for the care and 
education of children of deceased members of the Order. Children of 



72 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

both sexes are received. Thus far the children are instructed only in 
the plainer branches of educati n, but will be in time subjected to a 
system of industrial as well as intellectual training to qualify them for 
the duties of after life. 

The buildings of the institution are good and substantial, and twenty 
acres of ground are included in the property. The citizens of Golds- 
boro contributed liberally to the establishment of the Orphanage, 
which is maintained by an annual appropriation from the Grand Lodge 
of $3,500, and also by appropriations from other Lodges of the State 
and from individuals. 

The Orphanage is under the management of Dr. W. C. Whittield,of 
Wayne County. 

THE COLORED BAPTIST ASYLUIM was established at Oxfurd by the colored 
Baptist denomination of the State, though pupils from other denomi- 
nations are received and cared for on equal terms. The objects and 
systems are similar to this in the other Orphanages. 

This institution has an annual appropriation from the State Treasury 
in aid of its private resources. 

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 

As a part of the machinery of the Department of Agriculture, Immi- 
gration aud Statistics, at the session of the General Assembly of 1887 
was established the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the supervision 
of a Commissioner, to be appointed by the Governor, who holds his 
office for two 3^ears at an annual salary of §1,500. His duties are defined 
by the Act, as follows: 

He shall collect information (npon the subject of labor, its relation to capital, the 
hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, their educational, moral 
and linancial condition and the best means of promoting their mental, material, social 
and moral prosperity. He shall also make a full rei)ort to each session of the General 
Assembly of the information collected and collated by him and containing such recom- 
mendations as he may deem calculated to promote the efficiency of the bureau. The 
Commissioner is hereby directed to endeavor to obtain an accurate list of all the news- 
papers published in the State, and whether the same be published daily or weekly, 
and to forward to each and all a copy of his report promjitlj' upon its being published; 
he is also directed to diligently enquire after tlie labor organizations of the State and 
see that none are omitted in the distribution of tlie rei)orts; he is further directed to 
confine his labors to this State. 

The Bureau is in active existence, discharging its functions indus- 
triously and usefully. Mr. John C. Scarborough is Commisiioner, and 
Mr. W. S. Harris Chief Clerk. 



RAILROAD COMMISSION. 73 

THE GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, 

In the building of the Agricultural Department, presents an admira- 
ble epitome of the resources, the progress and the characteristics of North 
Carolina, collected and displayed so as to gratif}'' the pride of the people 
and stimulate to further eHbrt, and also fully to inform the inquiring 
visitor from other Stales and countries. Everything that is the prod- 
uct of land and water on the surface and under the surface, the precious 
metals and the baser metals, the gold, the iron, the copper, the coal, the 
marl, the phosphates, the marbles, the building-stones, together with the 
gems which sparkle in her diadem ; and the woods, ornamental and 
useful, and the grains, and all else that illustrate the richne?s of the 
land; and the fishes and the great whale that tell of the wealth of the 
waters — all these eloquently speak to the North Carolinian the great 
store our State has laid up for him who has the patience and the intel- 
ligence to dig it out from its hidden depositories. 

Mr. T. C. Harris is the Curator of the Museum. 

RAILROAD COMMISSION. 

By an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina, ratified March 
5, 1891, a Railroad Commission was created, consisting of three mem- 
bers, to be elected by the Legislature, charged with the general super- 
vision of railroads, steamboat and canal companies, and express and 
telegraph companies doing business in North Carolina, restraining on 
the part of railroad and other public transportation companies the 
exaction of more than a reasonable compensation for the carriage of 
freight or passengers, under penalty of fine, to be adjudged sufficient 
under conviction for extortion; and also empowering the Commission 
with authority to forbid such companies to give undue preference to 
patrons of their lines, and authorizing it to make rates for freight and 
passenger taritfs, forbidding unjust discriminations, giving rebates, and 
the charging more for short hauls; empowering it to make special 
excursion rates, empowers it to fix the charges for the transportation of 
passengers and freight, to make schedules that shall meet the general 
public convenience, and take such other steps and do such other acts 
as shall conduce to the protection of the business and travelling public 
from oppression and injustice, allegations of which induced the creation 
of the Commission. The same princi[)le3 that govern railroad and 
other transportation management are made to apply also to telegraph 
and express companies 

The Commission consisis at present of J. W. Wilson, chairman, and 
T. W. Mason and E. C. Beddingfield, and its sittings are held in Raleigh 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 



The necessity for such suitable places at the State Capital for the 
decent and convenient conduct of the public business was so apparent, 
that in the course of the existence of the State government, with Raleigh 
as its seat and centre, all the public buildings required have been con- 
structed, and in a style suited to the dignity and character of the State. 

THE STATE CAPITOL, begun in 1832 to replace its predecessor destroyed 
by fire June 27, 1831, was completed and made ready for occupation 
in 1840. It is a massive granite structure, in plain but impressive 
doric style, and for many years was regarded as the finest of all the State 
Capitols. It is situated in a square of four acres, laid off in broad and 
convenient walks, shaded in part by native oaks, survivors of the original 
forests, and with other trees illustrating very interestingly the variety 
and character of North Carolina forestry; and it is also adorned with 
flowers and shrubbery. The building contains the Legislative Halls, the 
Executive offices, the Treasury Department, the Auditor's office, those 
of the Secretary of State, the rooms of the Keeper of the Capitol, Legis- 
lative Committee rooms, and other needed apartments, is lighted both 
by gas and electricity, is well ventilated, and in winter is thoroughly 
heated throughout by steam. The whole is surrounded by a handsome 
iron fence, based upon a solid dressed granite foundation. 

THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION, recently completed, and first occupied by 
his Excellency Daniel G. Fowle, is situated in the north-eastern part of 
the city on one of the public squares originally reserved to the State in 
the plan of Raleigh. It is a three-story brick structure, elegant in 
design, and complete in all its details, pleasing in exterior, elegant, 
convenient and comfortable in the interior. In its construction much 
of the beautiful flesh-colored marble from the Nantahala river in Macon 
County was used, illustrating the value and beauty of that superb 
material. 

THE SUPREME COURT AND STATE LIBRARY BUILDING is situated on the 
north side of Edenton street, adjoining the Agricultural Building and 
fronting Capitol Square. It has an unpretending exterior, but is 
well built and well arranged for its various uses. It is three stories 
high, and contains the Supreme Court room, consulting rooms, the 
Attorney General's office, the office of the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, the Supreme Court Library, which contains, besides a large 
and valuable collection of law volumes, portraits of many of the mem- 
bers of the Court from its organizition to the present time; and also 



EDUCATION. 75 

the State Library of 45,000 volumes, and portraits of eminent North 
Carolinians prominent in State annals, in professional, civil and mili- 
tary and naval life. To these buildings are to be added those of the 
charitable and penal institutions before mentioned, all of which are 
large, imposing and costly structures. 

EDUCATION. 

The good name, as well as the substantial prosperit}' of a State, is 
indissolubly associated with, and dependent upon, the initial direction 
given to the minds of the young. Care on the one hand, neglect on 
the other, bring forth responsive fruit, to tell in after years in the grate- 
ful form of public virtue and enlightenment, or in the melancholy 
spectacle of public vice or popular ignorance and abasement. The 
wisdom of statesmanship is never so wisely directed as wlien it aims to 
establish the one and guard against the other. And such statesman- 
ship knows that it must act always by anticipation; knows that it is 
dealing with functions in a state of constant change and progression; 
that it is moulding and shaping that which, though incorporeal and 
intangible, bears direct analogy to that which is corporeal and material, 
in that it is impressible to good or to evil, retains the shape and form 
to which it is moulded, and, in its matured powers, presents the perfec- 
tion of the wise directing hand, or the distortion of neglect or of wicked 
design. 

The solicitude of our Revolutionary fathers was never allayed, even 
amid the clash of arms and the uncertainties of a pending desperate 
strife, until they had given expression in their tentative efforts in the 
formation of a new government to the purpose which was uppermost 
in their minds. Never in human history did a solemn determination 
to discharge a duty, apparently altogether irrelevant to the cause they 
then had in hand — the conduct of war and the achievement of liberty— 
have expression so noble, so wise, so disinterested. Liberty might be 
won, but at ruinous cost; but whatever befell, posterity must be edu- 
cated. That was a sacred charge not to be neglected or evaded. It was 
the education of the leaders in the cause of liberty that had taughtthe 
value of liberty; it was essential that that liberty when assured should 
be preserved by the same means that had demonstrated its value. 
Therefore, posterity must be educated; and while the enemy were still 
thundering at the gates, and while the roar of battle was still deafen- 
ing the startled ear, calmly, unmoved by the awful commotion, brave 
as to their present, confident as to their future, they decreed in their 



76 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

first Constitution "that a school or scho Is should be established by the 
Legislature for the convenient instruction of youth, with such sala- 
ries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to ios ruct 
at low prices; and all useful learning shall be encouraged in one or 
more universities." 

Such was the beginning of our school system; such was the manda- 
tory obligation and formation of the S ale University. 

Public financial confusion, general private pecuniary distress, mate- 
rially delayed action upon the wise determination of the founders of 
our State government. Yet, under all untoward circumstances, the 
Universit}' was chartered in 178G, and entered upon its work in 1795. 
It lit the torch of public education, if at the time it could do no more. 
Its own career grandly illustrated its own usefulness. Its example and 
its influence kept alive that broader ultimate p^an and purpose of an 
education to be brougiit to ever}^ child in the land. The first step was 
taken by Judge I\Iur[)hey in the session of the Legislature of IblG, in a 
report urging the establishment of a judicious system of public educa- 
tion. But no further legislative action on tiie subject was taken until 
the session of 1825, in which year a fund for the establishment of com- 
mon schools was created by the General Assembly, "consisting of the 
dividends arising from the stocks then held or afterwards acquired by 
the State in the banks of New Berne and Cape Fear, the dividends 
arising from the stocks owned by the State in the Cape Fear Naviga- 
tion Company, the Roanoke Navigation Company, and the Clubfoot 
and Ilarlowe Creek Canal Company, the tax imposed by law on license 
to retailers of spirituous liquors and auctioneers, the unexpended 
balance of the agricultural fund, all moneys paid to the S:ate for the 
entries of vacant land, and all the vacant and unappropriated swamp 
lands of the State, together with such sums of money as the Slate may 
find it convenient to appropriate from time to time." 

In 1789, the Legislature in session in Fayetteville, by anticipation, 
had cut off by f.ir the largest resources applicable to the school fund. 
The largest body of vacant land then owned by the State included all 
the territory of the present State of Tennessee. But as a heavy debt 
rested upon the National Government for the cost^ of the Revolutionary 
War, Congress had frequently urged upon the States owning western 
territory the policy of ceding the whole or part of such territory to aid 
in the extinguishment of such debt. North Carolina, with responsive 
generosity, gave up the territ')ry of Tennessee, with all her prospective 
school lands, and fell back upon her other resources and the relief or 
aids of future legislation. 



EDUCATION. 77 

Such legislation was had, and by the transfer to the Literary Fund by 
the General Government in 1837 of the State's share of the surplus 
deposit fund, this increased the Literary Fund to $2,000,000 and upwards. 
The common school system, as it was designated, was adopted by popu- 
lar vote in 1839, and continued in force until superceded by the results 
of the war. Under that system, in 1850 tlie number of schools was 
2,657; of teachers, 2,730; of pupils, 104,095. The income, being in 
that year $158,564, increased in 1860 to $268,719. 

Asa result of the war, the whole Literary Fund was lost, and new 
provision had to be made. 

Without going into details involving the legislation of several years, 
it is enough here to say that in 1890, from the general poll-tax, 
general property tax (12| cents on the $100), special poll-tax, special 
property tax, special property tax under local acts, special poll-tax 
under local acts, fines, forfeitures and penalties, liquor licenses, auc- 
tioneers, estrays and other sources, all of which are specially applied to 
the school fund, and from the State Board of Education, there was 
realized the sum of $721,756 38, as against the receipts for 1884 of 
$580,311.06; and for 1890 the expenditures were $718,225.60. 

The school census for 1890 shows the number of persons between 6 
and 21 years of age to have been— white males, 190,423; white females, 
179,721; total, 370,144; colored males, 108,707; colored females, 107,817; 
total, 216,524; of which there was an enrollment of — white males, 
107,073; white females, 98,771 ; total, 205,844 ; and of colored males, 
55,455; colored females, 61,234; total, 116,689. The average attend- 
ance during the same time was, for whites, 134,108; for colored, 68,992. 
Average length of school terms, for whites, 11.85 ; colored, 11.81. Aver- 
age salary of teachers — white males, $25.80; white females, $22.95; 
colored males, $22.72 ; colored females, $20 36. 

The value of public school property in 1890, for whites, was $612,- 
303.51 ; for colored, $240,402.60. The number of public school-houses 
in the same year was, for whites, 3,973 ; for colored, 1,820. Number of 
schools taught in same period, for whites, 4,508; colored, 2,327. Num- 
ber of school districts, for whites, 4,893; for colored, 2,289. And the 
statistics of the Normal Schools for 1890, for the colored race, show an 
attendance at Fayetteville of 145, at Salisbury of 119, at Franklinton 
of 275, at Plymouth of 123, and at Goldsboro of 115 — an increase over 
the previous year of 58. 

For the fiscal year ending November 30, 1890, there had been levied 
for school purposes on white polls $229,994.32, and on colored polls 
$90,420. On general property there had been levied on the whites 
$283,953.31, and on colored $8,735.34. 



78 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The population of North Carolina by the census of 1890 is — white, 
1,049,191; colored, 567,170; all others, 1,586— a total of 1,617,947, the 
colored population being a little more than one-third of the whole. In 
the contribution to t.lie support of the schools, the whites contribute 
nearly five-sixths of the whole, and the colored little more than one- 
sixth. Nevertheless, the appropriation is made rigidly pi'o rata, as if 
the contribution had been on the same basis. 

Besides the levy, which is now 15 cents on the $100 worth of prop- 
erty, and the other subjects upon which taxation is laid for the benefit 
of the public schools, the State has received large benefactions from the 
Peabody Fund, appropriated in aid of public, normal and graded schools 
and to holders of scholarships in the Nashville Normal School. There 
are fourteen of these scholarships, each worth $200 per annum. The 
average annual appropriations to the State from this fund s nee 1868 
have been about §4,500. 

The present public school system exists under that feature of the 
State Constitution providing for a State Board of Education, consisting 
of the Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, Attorney Gen- 
eral, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. The latter is the head 
of the system of public schools. Each county has its County Board 
and County Superintendent. The County Board consists of those men 
elected by the Commissioners and Justices of the county, and the Board, 
in conjunction with the Commissioners and Magistrates, elect the Super- 
intendent. The normal system was adopted in 1885, for the whites as 
well as for the colored peo[»le, and eight normal schools were established 
for the former and five for the latter. The county institute system has 
superceded the white normal school^, except tliat a normal department 
is provided by the University. The five colored normal schools are 
still continued. 

It need scarcely be added that while the provision for the schools of 
both races is made with strictly impartial appropriation of the public 
funds, the schools themselves are separate; and a still further separation 
is made in the schools of the Croatan Indians of Robeson County, which 
are detached from both the white and colored schools. 

HIGHER EDUCATION. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. — Under the mandate of the Con- 
stitution, requiring the establishment of common schools, and also of 
one or more universities, on December 11 , 1789, the Legislature decreed 
the existence of the University of North Carolina, by a Board of Cor- 



HIGHER EDUCATION. 79' 

porators selected from among the most earnest and intelligent friends 
of education, to be located at a point to be selected from among those 
suggested as the most eligible in the counties of Wake, Franklin, War- 
ren, Orange, Granville, Chatham and Johnston. The place called New 
Hope Chapel Hill, in the county of Orange, was accepted — 1,180 acres 
of suitable territory having been offered by the citizens of that vicinity; 
and here the village of Chapel Hill was laid off, the first lots sold, and 
the corner-stone of the old East building was laid on the 12th day of 
December, 1793, and the institution was opened in 1795. 

The institution has now approached the lofty elevation originalh'- 
designed — that of a University — having passed beyond the confined 
limits of a college with its limited curriculum. It now gives instruc- 
tion i]ot onl}' in the former prescribed course, but has expanded into 
the addition of all the liberal and scientific branches. The course of 
study embraces political and social science, history, Engh'sh, Greek 
Latin, modern languages, mental and moral science, mathematics, 
engineering, chemistry, natural philosophv, biology, mineralogy and 
geology. There are also special schools for law and medicine. Five 
special courses of study leading to degrees are arranged for the benefit 
of those who desire thorough general education. Special short courses 
may be adopted in connection with preparation for the study of medi- 
cine, for business, agriculture, teaching, law or journalism. Free 
instruction is given in all departments to graduates of other colle^-es 
and universities. 

The Faculty was a full one at the Commencement, .June, 1892, con- 
sisting of George Taylor Winston, LL. D., President and Professor of 
Political and Social Science; Kemp Plummer Battle, LL. D., Professor 
of History; Francis Preston Venable, Ph. D., Professor of General and 
Analytical Chemistry; Joseph Austin Holmes, B. S., Professor of Geol- 
ogy and Mineralogy ; John Manning, LL. D , Professor of Law; Thomas 
Hume, D. D., LL. D., Professor of English Language and I^iterature* 
Walter Dallam Toy, Professor of Modern Languages; Eben Alexander 
Professor of Greek Language and Literature; William Cain, C. E., Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics and Engineering; Richard Henry Whitehead 
M. D., Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Materia Medica; Henry 
Horace Williams, A. M., B. D., Professor of Mental and Moral Science; 
Henry Van Peters Wilson, Ph. D., Professor of Biology; Karl Pomerov 
Harrison, A. M., Professor of Latin Language and Literature; and the 
following instructors and assistants: Hunter Lee Harris, B. S., instruc- 
tor in Mineralogy and Geology; Howard Burton Shaw, A. B., B. E., 
instructor in Mathematics and Drawing; Charles Baskerville, assistant 



80 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in Chemical Laboratory; Howard A. Banks, A. B., instructor in Eng- 
lish ; Arthur J. Edwards, assistant in Chemical Laboratory; Thomas 
R. Foust, assistant in Physical Laboratory. 

The University is sustained by an annual appropriation by the State 
of $20,000: by the annual charge, $77.50 per capita for tuition, and is 
aided by the Deems Fund, which is designed to assist needy students 
by loans; by the Francis Jones Smith Fund, the income of which is 
applied to the education of such students as the Faculty may desig- 
nate; by the B. F. Moore scliolarship, by the Cameron scholarship, by 
the Alumni scholarship, and by the Mary Ann Smith scholarships. 

Free tuition is also offered to candidates for the ministry, to the sons 
of ministers, to young men under bodily infirmity, and to young men 
preparing to teach. 

DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 

The leading denominations of North Carolina, in their desire and 
purpose to give special advantages to their young men preparing to 
engage in the ministry, by equipping them with all the advantages of 
education, more within the limits of denominational lines than else- 
where attainable, made early efforts to establish collegt-s under their 
own control. Thus Wake Forest College, Davidson College and Trinity 
College came successively into existence, the educational representa- 
tions respectively of the Baptist, the Presbyterian and the Methodist 
denominations. 

WAKE FOREST COLLEGE was chartered at the session of the General 
Assembly of 1833. A tract of land containing 615 acres, twelve miles 
north of Raleigh, at the point now known as "Wake Forest, was pur- 
chased, and the erection of buildings begun, and the institution opened 
on the first JNIonday of February, 1834. 

The system first adopted, which was that of manual labor, associated 
with the ordinary college curriculum, was soon abandoned as imprac- 
ticable and unproductive of satisfactory results, and the collegiate sys- 
tem only retained. Laboring under the embarrassments of debt in the 
early years of its existence, it was at length relieved in 1849. Since 
that period, by the earnest and liberal zeal of prominent members of 
the Baptist church, an endowment fund has been accumulated, now 
amounting to S194,000. In the number, excellence and elegance of 
the college buildings, Wake Forest is the equal of any like institution 
in the countrv. 



DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 81 

The standard of scholarship is high, and the graduates number 
among them very many prominent men, not only in the pulpit, but in 
all the learned professions and in business and industrial avocations. 

The Faculty now consists of C. E. Taylor, B. Lit., D.D., President, 
Professor Moral Philosophy and Political Science; W. B. Rayall, M. A., 
D D., Professor of Greek ; L. R. Mills, M. A., Professor of Pure Mathe- 
matics; W. Royall, M. A., D.D., Professor of English; B. F. Sledd, 
M. A., Professor Natural History; C. E. Brewer, M. A., Professor of 
Chemistry; G. W. Greene, B. A., Professor of Latin; J. F. Lanneau, 
M. A., Professor of Physics and Applied ]\ Lath em a tics; E. G. Beckwith, 
Assistant Professor of Mathematics; J. B. Carlyle, M. A., Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Languages; T. S. Sprinkle, B. S., Director of Physical Culture. 
The number of students 1891-'2 was 21 L 

Ministers receive free tuition. All those of their class who have been 
licensed to preach and are unable to command the means necessary to 
defray the cost of board, may receive aid for this purpose from the 
Board of Education of the Baptist State Convention, so far as the means 
may be at its disposal. Among the other aids to indigent young men, 
is the "Bostwick Loan Fund," created by Mr. J. A. Bostwick, of New 
York City, who has given to the College one hundred and twenty shares 
of .$100 each, 12 per cent, stock, in the Standard Oil Trust Stock, to be 
held in perpetuity, the annual interest, at present $1,440, to be used in 
making loans to students to pay their tuition bills, and nothing else, to 
be loaned at 4 per cent., payable semi-annually, on terms agreed upon. 

The North Carolina Baptist Students' Loan Association, incorporated 
March, 1877, lends money arising from the interest of its invested fund 
to indigent young men wishing to stud}' in the College, the loan to be 
repaid with intere-t after the completion of the course. 

DAVIDSON COLLEGE, the Presbyterian institution of higher learning, 
may be regarded as the legitimate, if somewhat remote, successor to 
Queen's College, or Liberty Hall, as it was called after Royal recogni- 
tion of the former had been denied. After many efforts at revival, and 
against strong opposition to the creation of a distinctly denominational 
college, Concord Presbytery, in the spring of 1835, adopted resolutions 
looking to the establishment of a Presbyterian College in their Presby- 
tery; and in the fall of the same year a site was selected in the north- 
ern part of Mecklenburg County, at which has been called the literary 
and geographical centre of the State. William Lee Davidson, a son 
of the Revolutionary hero. Gen. William Davidson, donated the build- 
ing site, together with a large tract of land and other valuable gifts. 
The institution was named in honor of General Davidson. 
6 



82 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The ('ollege was opened in March, 1837, with 66 students. A charter 
was granted by the Legislature in 1838. The manual labor system was 
at first adopted, but, as at Wake Forest, it proved a failure and was 
abandoned. In 1855, Maxwell Chambers, Esq., of Salisbury, made the 
munificent bequest of $258,000 to the College, and this relieved it of all 
existing financial trouble and assured its future freedom from embar- 
rassment. The terms of the charter limited the endowment to §200,000, 
and only that amount could l)e realized from the bequest. About 
§100,000 of this endowment was lost by reason of the war. In addition 
to the proceeds arising from the interest of this endowment, the College 
has endowed scholarships, such as the Maxwell Chambers scholarship 
of §3,000, endowed by the Presbyterian Church of Salisbury; the D. A. 
Davis scliolarship of $1,500, endowed by the same church; the George 
Brown scholarship of $1,000, endowed by Mrs. A. C. Davis, of Salisbury, 
and the Thomas Brown scholarship of $1,000, endowed by Brown Bros., 
of Winston, and one of $500, endowed by Gen. Rufus Barringer and 
Mr. George E. Wilson, of Charlotte. 

Two regular courses of stud}^ leading to the degrees of Bachelor of 
Arts and Bachelor of Science, each requiring four years, are provided. 
The requirements for admission are much the same as at the State Uni- 
versity. A post-graduate course, leading to the degree of Master of 
Arts, is available. The course of instruction is thorough, and man}' 
distinguished men of the State are alumni of the institution. 

The Faculty numbers eight professors 'J'he Rev. John Bnnyan 
Shearer, D.D., LL.D., is now President. 

TRINITY COLLEGE. — The leading Methodist College of North Carolina is 
the outgrowth of the Grammar School established by the Rev. Brantley 
York in 1838, in the north-west corner of Randolph County, five miles 
south of the town of High Point, on the North Carolina Railroad, and 
about one hundred miles west of Kaleigh. In 1842 Dr. York resigned 
the charge of the school, and the Rev. B. Craven, then only nineteen 
years old, was elected as successor. In 1851 the school was re-chartered 
and the name changed to "Normal College." By this charter the 
school was brought under State supervision, and the Governor of the 
State became ex officio President of the Board of Trustees, and the 
Superintendent of Common Schools Secretary. The object of this con- 
nection was to secure a higher grade of teachers for the common 
schools; and, by a provision of the charter, a certificate from the Nor- 
mal College was made ample lawful evidence of qualification to teach 
iu such schools. At the annual session of the North Carolina Confer- 
ence of the Methodist Church, held in Salisbury in 1851, the connec- 



DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 83 

tion between the school and the Conference was adopted, and the 
Trustees of the College agreed that young men preparing for the minis- 
try should be educated without charge. In 1853 the charter was 
amended, and the College was authorized to confer degrees. In 1858-9 
the management of the institution was transferred to the North Caro- 
lina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and by act 
of the Legislature the College was vested in the Conference with all the 
rights and privileges usually granted in such cases, and the name was 
changed from Normal to Trinity College. The College suffered from 
the effects of the war, and in 1SG5, for a short time, exercises were sus- 
pended. Dr. Craven, in that 3'ear, was re-elected President, and the 
next year exercises were resumed. In 1882 Dr. Craven died, with dis- 
astrous influence on the fortunes of the institution, which fell so low as 
to threaten its existence. Prominent laymen came to the rescue, and 
its strength was renewed, its curriculum broadened, its scholastic stand- 
ard raised, and it took rank with the other colleges of the South. 

In 1890, in accordance wiih the order of the Board of Trustees of the 
College, of the North Carolina and of the Western North Carolina 
Conference Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the General 
Assembly, amending the charter, the institution was ordered to be 
removed to Durham, where Blackwell's Park, consisting of sixty-two 
and a half acres of eligibly situated land, was secured as a site for the 
buildings and grounds. Liberal donations made by citizens of Dur- 
ham, and other munificent aid, have enabled the management to pro- 
ceed so rapidly with the construction of the necessary buildings that 
the session of 1892-'3 will be opened at Durham. These buildings 
consist of the Main College, the Technological building, the College 
Inn, the Gymnasium buildings and seven residences for the Faculty 
and officers, altogether constituting a mass of well constructed and 
architecturally imposing edifices. The grounds are well laid off, and 
the whole is an independent municipal corporation, with its own mayor, 
commissioners and peace officer. 

At present, the institution has eleven chairs of instruction and six 
assistant instructors, distributed among the several departments of 
instruction into which the work of the College is divided. The work 
of instruction is organized under the following departments, viz.: The 
Department of Philosophy and Letters; the Scientific Department; the 
Technological Department; the Department of History, Political and 
Social Science; the Theological Department; the Law Deparment; 
and the Commercial Department. 



84 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. ' 

The College fees for the session are $60; board and incidentals, $95 
to $140; commencement tax, $2.50; total, $157.50 to $202.50. 

John Franklin Crowell, A. B., Dr. Litt., is now President. 

Among the other denominational colleges is Elon College, in Ala- 
mance County, on the line of the North Carolina Railroad, near Gib- 
sonville Station. It is an institution founded by the Christian Church. 
It is for both sexes, and has a good attendance. It is equipped with 
large and well constructed buildings, and is a valuable auxiliary to the 
cause of education. 

SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 

Under this title is to be named the class of schools prepa^ratory in 
their course, but so broad and thorough in their aims as, in a large 
number of cases, to meet all needed requirements of education. At 
the head of these is — 

THE BINGHAM SCHOOL, established in 1793 by the Rev. William Bing- 
ham, a native of Ireland, at Pittsboro. The School, in its succession 
through three generations of the same name and family, has long been 
pre-eminent in the South, and noted throughout the whole Union. 
Mr. Bingham, for five years, from 1801 to l>s05, was Professor of Latin 
in the State University, and then resigned to re-open his School at 
Hillsboro. At his death, in 182fj, he was succeeded by his eldest son, 
William J. Bingham, who continued it for twenty years at Hillsboro, 
with a reputation that brought him pupils from all parts of North 
Carolina and from all the Southern States. Subsequently the School 
was removed to Oaks, in Orange Count}', where the Principal was assisted 
by his sons William and Robert Bingham, both graduates of the Uni- 
versity. On the death of the elder Bingham, the School was removed 
to a point near Mebanesville, in the same county. AVilliam Bingham 
soon after died, and was succeeded by his brother Robert, by whom the 
institution was still conducted. In addition to thorough classical and 
Eno-lish and business education, since the war the militarv feature has 
been added, an officer of the United States Army having been detailed 
as commandant of the cadets. Owing to the destruction of a portion 
of the School buildings by two successive fires, Major Robert Bingham 
was induced by favorable offers to remove the School to Asheville, where 
it now is, without abatement of its usefulness or reputation. 

THE HORNER SCHOOL was established in Oxford in 1851 by James H. 
Horner. The course of instruction is thorough, embracing the classical, 
mathematical, scientific and military features. Each course is arranged 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 85 

for four years. Tlie classical course embraces the studies in the schools 
of Latin, Greek, Mathematics, English Grammar and Rhetoric, Geogra- 
phy and History. The Scientific and English course embraces Math- 
ematics, Natural Science, Metaphysics, English Grammar and Rhetoric, 
Geography, History. 

French, German and Bookkeeping are elective studies. The School 
is strictly ii.ilitary in its organization and merit. 

THE DAVIS SCHOOL is a classical and military School, established at 
LaGrange, Lenoir County, in 1861, by Col. A. C. Davis. It soon com- 
manded extensive patronage and acquired wide celebrity. In many 
respects it is modellel after the Bingham Schopl, but adopting at its 
foundation the military feature. Causes not necessary to refer to, sug- 
gested the wisdom of the removal of the institution to some other point. 
Eligible places with liberal offers by citizens were made, and Winston 
was selected, land acquired, commodious buildings erected, and in 1890 
the School transferred to the new location where it prospers beyond 
anticipation, the cadets numbering annually about 225 

PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 

Many institutions in North Carolina, ranked in the reports of the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction under the above title, have merit 
sufficient to advance them into the class of colleges, but, being {)laced 
under the supervision of the public school authorities, can be considered 
only as they are above entitled. There are so many of them that they 
can only here be referred to briefly. 

Among them are Holt's School, Graham College and Oakdale Acad- 
emy, all at Burlington, Alamance County, all for both sexes, for whites, 
and Yadkin Academy, for colored, at Mebanesville; Weaverville Col- 
lege, Weaverville, Buicombe County, for whites and for both sexes; 
Ravenscroft High School, Asheville, whites, male; Rutherford Col- 
lege, near Connelly's Springs, Burke County, whites, male; Catawba 
College, Newton, Catawba County, whites, both sexes; Concordia Col- 
lege, Connor, Catawba County, whites, both sexes; Thompson School, 
Siler City, Chatham County, whites, both sexes; Hayesville Male and 
Female College, Hayesville, Clay County, whites; Colored Presbyterian 
School, Fayetteville; Cumberland County, both sexes; Warsaw High 
Schonl, Warsaw, Duplin County, whites, both sexes; Woodward High 
School, Durham, Durham County, colored, both sexes; Louisburg 
Female Academy, Louisburg, Franklin County, whites; Gaston College, 
Dallas, Gas'.on County, whites, female; High Classical School. Oxford, 



86 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Granville County, colored, both sexes; Oak Ridge School, Oak Ridge, 
Guilford Count}', whites, both sexes; Guilford College, Guilford County, 
whites, both sexes; High Point Female College, High Point, Guilford 
County, whites; Liberty Academy, Liberty, Randolph County, whites, 
both sexes; Leaksville High School, Leaksville, Rockingham County, 
whites, both sexes; Enochville High School, Rowan County, whites, 
both sexes; Monroe High School, Monroe, Union County, whites, both 
sexes; Kittrell Normal and Industrial School, Kittrell, Vance County, 
colored, both sexes; Skyland Institute, Blowing Rock, Watauga County, 
w^hites, both sexes; Moravian Falls Academy, Wilkes County, whites, 
both sexes; Nahunta Academy, Pinkney, Wayne County, whites, both 
sexes. 

HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 

The State of North Carolina, while acting promptly, though not 
always munificently, upon the requirements of the Constitution to pro- 
vide for the higher education of its male youth, exhibited no practical 
concern for that of the equally needy and deserving female youth. 
Only recently has the sovereign conscience been awakened, through 
the persistent energies of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
Major S. M. Finger, and the Normal and Industrial School established 
at Greensboro for the education of females in the special branches 
designated in the charter. The care of female education, therefore, 
devolved upon individual or denominational interest in the intellectual 
welfare and training of that sex upon whom so unavoidably depends 
the complexion of society, of its morals, its manners, its habits, and, as 
human history illustrates in innumerable instances, of its intellectual 
culture and its ultimate useful tendencies and results. 

To this individual and denominational solicitude is due the existence 
of the female schools and academies which have trained and refined 
the generations of wives and mothers, taking their places in the social 
world, adding new lustre to their sex, adorning their homes with all 
that makes home happy, refined and useful, and giving perennial illus- 
tration of the influence of the wife and the mother upon the character, 
the fame and the fortunes of the husband, the son and the brother. 

The first of the public female schools to be named is — 

THE SALEM FEMALE ACADEMY, founded by the Moravians in 1802. There 
had been private schools in the State so excellent as to have drawn to 
them patronage from distant parts of the State, but the honor must be 
ascribed to the Moravians of having located the first institution of a 
public nature, and which now, after the lapse of ninety years, grows. 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 87 

rather than loses, in usefuhiess and reputation, for it draws to it annual 
recruits from all and the most distant of the Southern and AVestern 
States, to fill the places of those sent forth to illustrate the solidity and 
the splendor of their mental and social equipment. 

The school is regularly graded with a four-years mathematical course, 
with most thorough cultivation in music, painting, drawing and needle- 
work. A commercial course is also provided. The corps of instructors 
is from twenty-six to thirty. The whole number of alumnae is between 
six thousand and seven thousand. 

For many years it was the only institution of wide repute in the 
South for female education. Its pupils, therefore, have been well rep- 
resented in the leading families in the South. A large number of these 
alumnfe became teachers and heads of seminaries and academies, w^ith 
the best and most useful influences upon the subjects of their train- 
ing. 

The buildings and accommodations of this school are elegant and 
commodious. 

ST. MARY'S SCHOOL, at Raleigh, occupies the buildings and grounds 
once used by the Episcopal School For Boys. They were applied to 
their present uses in May, 1842, when the Rev. Aldert Smedes founded 
the present St. Mary's Schoo', under the auspices of the Episcopal 
Church in North Carolina. The exercises have been maintained con- 
tin uousl 3^ ever since, the son of the founder, the Rev. Bennett Smedes, 
succeeding to the control on the death of his father. The patronage 
is from this State and many of the other Southern States. The course 
of education is ample, embracing all the substantial branches, as well 
as the ornamental, to the extremest point of culture. The course is 
arranged for five years. 

PEACE INSTITUTE is situated in the city of Raleigh, in grounds 
containing eight acres, and the main building, which cost $40,000, is 
probably the largest and one of the best school buildings in the State. 
The Institute is the outgrowth of prominent men in the North Carolina 
Synod of the Presbyterian Churcli to establish at the State capital a 
school for young ladies, to be of high grade. When the steps were 
taken to establish such school, William Peace, of Raleigh, headed the 
subscription with $10,000, and, in recognition of his generosity, the 
Institute was honored with his name. The buildings were erected 
before the war, but before being used as a school they were taken posses- 
sion of by the Confederate Government and, during the war, used as a 
hospital. After the war, in 1872, Peace Institute was leased by the 
Rev. Dr. Burwell, D. D., and his son, John B. Burwell, and continued 



88 HAXD-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

under the management of father and son until recently, when it came 
under the management of Mr. Dinwiddie, with continued prosperity 
and reputation. 

The average annual enrollment is about two hundred, representing 
a large number of Southern States. Its course of instruction embraces 
the. following departments: Collegiate, Normal, Primary, Kindergarten, 
INIusic, and Fine Arts; and, in thoroughness, is equal to any female 
school in the South. 

GREENSBORO FEMALE COLLEGE occupies a fine brick building in a fine 
natural park of forty acres in a pleasant part of Greensboro. It is a 
Methodist institution, the original suggestion of the Trustees of the 
Greensboro Female School, to the Virginia Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, asking that a female collfge under their auspices, 
be established at Greensboro. This was in 1837, when the North Caro- 
lina Conference had no separa:te existence. It acquired such the same 
year; and in 1838 the North Carolina Conference obtained a charter 
from the State Legislature. This was the first female college char- 
tered in North Carolina, and the first south of the Potomac, except 
Wesleyan Female College at Macon, Ga. The institution was opened 
for students under the presidency of the Rev. Solomon Lea, succeeded, 
as the result of succe-sive resignations, by the Rev. A. M. Shipp, D. D , 
the Rev. Chas. F. Deems, and the Rev. T. M. Jones. The school build- 
ing was destroyed by fire in 1863, and not rebuilt until 1871. It was 
opened in 1873 under the presidency of the Rev. T. M. Jones, and con- 
tinued under him with great success until the period of his death, which 
occurred in 1889, when he was succeeded by the Rev. B. F. Dixon. 

A preparatory course and a collegiate course requiring four years is 
provided. The Faculty is a full one, and the attendance of pupils is 
from 150 to 200, representing several Southern and Western States. 

THE CHOWAN BAPTIST FEMALE INSTITUTE is located at Murfreesboro, 
Hertford County. It lias very fine buildings, situated on highly orna- 
mented ground.-!, containing twenty-eight acres. This insti;ution origi- 
nated in the purpose of the Bertie Union Meeting (Baptist) embracing 
the counties of Northampton, Bertie and Hertford, to establish in their 
midst a high school for girls, and a school building was provided at 
Murfreesboro and opened October 11, 1848, with the Rev. A. McDowell, 
of South Carolina, and a graduate of Wake Forest College, as president. 
The })rosperity of the institution was so ra|)id and so marked as 
demanded the erection of large buildings, and in 1851, a joint stock 
company took charge of the school, selected a new site and comjtleted 
a large an<l hamlsome brick building. The value of the property is 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. by 

now estimated at $50,000. The funds were chiefly contributed by the 
Chow. Ill Association. With its greater facihties, tlie institution was 
soon filled with young ladies from most of the Southern States, and 
some from the Nor h. It has had successively as its presidents, Dr. 
McDowell, Rev. William Hooper, D.D., LL.D., Rev. Mr. Forney, and 
agaia Dr. McDowell, who returned to the presidency in 1862, and died 
in 1881, to be succeeded by Prof. John B. Brewer, the present president. 
In the College there are two departments, the preparatory, requiring 
two years for completion, and the collegiate, four years. In the latter 
the course is as full and satisfactory as in the other female colleges in 
the State. 

THE OXFORD FEMALE SEMINARY is the continuation of the Raleigh 
Female Seminary (Baptist) established in Raleigh about 1870 by the 
Rev. William Royall, D.D., who, on liis transfer to Wake Forest, was 
succeeded b}^ Prof. F. P. Hobgood, who removed the institution to 
Oxford with a corresponding change of name. It has there flourished. 
The school grounds comprise four acres, handsomely laid out. The 
course of study comprises b th a preparatory and a collegiate depart- 
ment. The Faculty consists' of learned ins'.ructors in ample force and 
of high qualification, representing in their acquirements the University 
of Virginia, the Stuttgart Conservatory, the Cooper Institute, and other 
well known institutions. 

THE ASHEVILLE FEMALE COLLEGE is a flourishing institution, originally 
estahlit^hed under the auspices of the Holston (Methodist) College. It 
possesses one of the finest collegiate buildings in North Carolina, situa- 
ted in a grove of thirteen acres in extent almost in the centre of Ashe- 
ville. It has a full corps of able instructors in the preparatory, collegiate 
and ornamental branches, and draws a large patronage from most of 
the Southern and Western States, together with a large local attend- 
ance. Prof. B. E. Atkins is at present president of the institution. 

NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR FEMALES. The neglect by the 
Stale of its duties in relation to female education as a care of the State, 
as well as that of the males, was partiall}' repaired at the session of the 
General Assembly at the urgent instance of the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, S. M. Finger, zealously supported by members of 
the Legislature and endorsed by public sentiment. The act ere ding 
this institution authorized the existence of a " Normal and Industrial 
School for Females," for the purpose of preparing pupils for the voca- 
tion of teaching and to equip them with a practical industrial education 
for their future self-maintenance. To secure the construction of the 
school at Greensboro, the citizens of that place made a cash donation 



90 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of $30,000 for the erection of the buildings; to which the State added 
$30,000 for the same purpose. Amply large grounds were donated by 
R. S. Pullen and R. T. Gray, of Raleigh, and others; but the names 
mentioned alone appear in the deed of conveyance. Two handsome 
and capacious brick buildings have been constructed, and the institu- 
tion is to be opened on the 28th of September, 1892. 

The school is endowed by the State with an annual appropriation of 
$10,000; and Dr. J. L. M. Curry, on behalf of the Peabody Fund, has 
given $2,000 for this year, with the prospect of making a similar gift 
annual and permanent. 

There are other meritorious institutions for the education of females 
in the State, but the list cannot be conveniently extended in a publi- 
cation of this kind. 

Before leaving the subject of schools and colleges for the whites, brief 
reference will be made to some of the efforts of the Friends, or Quakers, 
to illustrate the loyalty of their sect to the cause of education. 

THE NEW GARDEN OR FRIENDS BOARDING SCHOOL, is at New Garden, in 
Guilford County, six miles west of Greensboro, and now on the railroad 
extending from that city to Winston. In 1833 the School was located 
on its present site, and in 1834 a charter was granted. The Trustees 
purchased a small tract, contiguous to which Elihu Coffin added a gift 
of seventy acres. Donations in money followed from other States, and 
liberal contributions came from Friends in England. The School was 
opened in 1837 as a mixed school, on the first da}'- twenty-five boys and 
twenty-five girls being present. The institution now has three large 
and well equipped brick buildings. Two courses of study, the "Liter- 
ary and Scientific," and the "Classical" are provided, each extending 
over four years, and special normal instruction is given ; diplomas to 
graduates, but no degrees are given. Since its establishment, more 
than 3,000 boys and girls have studied there. 

There are other institutions belonging to the Friends, only here to 
be noted by name: Belvidere Academy, Perquimans County, opened 
in lt35; the " Baltimore Friends," who have established twelve or more 
schools under their direction ; and the " Model Farm" enterprise, estab- 
lished near Pligh Point in 1867, designed to elevate agriculture and to 
add to itslprofits. The farm contains two hundred acres, and is placed 
under the charge of an experienced agriculturist. The enterprise has 
proved a great success and has become, indeed, a model farm. 

The Philadelphia Friends have established numerous schools in this 
State for the benefit of the colored people, and the Friends of New York 
have done the same for buth whites and colored. 



COLLEGES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE. 91 



COLLEGES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE. 

In addition to the number of public schools for the colored race taught 
in 1890 (2,327 in all), and the higher schools named above, there are five 
institutions of such elevation of aim, such extent of facilities and such 
ampleness of equipment as to rank them among the colleges of the 
State. These are Biddle Institute, at Charlotte; Scotia Seminary, Con- 
cord; Bennett Seminary, Greensboro; Livingstone College, Salisbury; 
and Shaw University, Raleigh. 

These institutions are none of them within the control of the educa- 
tional authorities of the State, make no reports to them, and are the 
sole repositories of information relating to their management and con- 
dition. Respectful application for such information was made to the 
Presidents or officers in charge, that the colleges of the colored people 
might be placed on equal footing in this work with those of the whites. 
Responses were made from four of these institutions — Shaw University, 
at Raleigh ; Livingstone College, at Salisbury; Scotia Seminary, at Con- 
cord; and Biddle LIniversity, at Charlotte. 

SHAW UNIVERSITY had its origin in the interest of the Rev. H. M. Tup- 
per, I). D., of Manson, Mass., who was a private during the war, and, 
after the cessation of hostilities, was sent to Raleigh, N. C, as a mis- 
sionary to the colored people, founding a church and opening the 
school which gradually expanded into the now extensive and well 
endowed Shaw University. The University owes its name to the bene- 
faction of Hon. Elijah Shaw, of Wales, Mass., who pledged to the aid 
of Dr. Tupper's movement the sum of $5,000. 

The property of the late General Daniel M. Barringer was soon after- 
wards purchased for $13,000. 

The University is now well established, with extensive grounds, hand- 
some and capacious buildings, all of brick, with collegiate buildings, 
boarding-houses, chapel, medical and law-school buildings and all the 
appliances for a University course. 

There is the Theological Department, in which young men are 
trained for the ministry; the Leonard Medical School, with a fine 
building and a corps of competent teachers; the Law Department, and 
the Female Department, provided with a capacious four-story brick 
building; the whole with ample and shaded and ornamented grounds, 
giving token of a very remarkable change in the condition of ihe col- 
ored race. The value of the whole property is estimated at $150,000, 
free from encumbrance. 



92 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Among the students are representatives from most of the Southern 
States, some from tlie Northern States, three from the West Indies, one 
from South America, one from the G hi Coast of Africa and three from 
the Congo. 

As a matter of interest, the Catalogue fur 1S91-2 is inserted, as 
follows: 



PREPARATORY NORMAL. 

Males -. 12 

Females 11 

NORMAL COURSE. 

Males 133 

Females 133 

SCIENTIFIC COURSE. 

Males 35 

Females - . 18 



Males . 



CLASSICAL COURSE. 



MEDICAL COURSE. 

Males 01 

Females 1 



364 

43 
10 

63 



LAW COURSE. 



Males. 



PHARMACY COURSE. 

Males... 10 

Females 1 



13 



11 



THEOLOGICAL COURSE. 

Males 46 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 

Males 191 

Females (School of Dress-mak- 
ing, Domestic Arts, Cooking, 
etc.) 123 

Instrumental ilusic 64 

Total males not counted twice . . . 26.1 
Total females not counted twice . 107 



Total. 



433 



SCOTIA SEMINARY, located at Concord, Cabarrus County, N. C, is an 
institution for colored girls, under the auspices of the Northern Pres- 
byterian Church. The buildings are large and handsome. The obj'>ct 
of the institution is to give an education to colored girls of a useful and 
practical kind, as well as a due share of the ornamental branches, and 
with special regard to religious and moral training. The Rev. D. J. 
Sattei field, D.D., is President. The patronage is good, as shown by the 
following summarv : 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



Normal and Scientific Department 17 

Grammar School Department 127 

Preparatorj- Department 114 

Total 258 



Boarding Pujjils 251 

Day Pui)ils 7 

Total 358 



SUMMARY BY STATES. 

North Carolina 140 Tennessee 

South Carolina 77 Alabama 

Georgia 20 New York 

Virginia 11 ]\Iaryland 

Florida 3 Pennsylvania 



Total 358 



COLLEGES FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE. 93 

LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE originated in the North Carolina Conference of 
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. It began ils work, as 
Zion Wesley Institute, in one room of a minister's parsonage in Con- 
cord, N. C, in 1879. In 1881 Rev. J. C. Price went to London as a 
delt^gate to the Ecumenical Conference, which met in that city in Sep- 
tember of the same year. After the adjournment of the Conference, 
Mr. Price remained in Great Britain about a year, and during this time 
he raised ten thousand dollars with which ihe trustees of the institution 
bought the present site, consisting then of one dwelling and forty acres 
of land. The institution has had a steady and successful growth ever 
since. 

The institution was originally chartered under the name of Zion 
W« sley College — subsequently changed to Livingstone College. Begin- 
ning with three teachers and three pupils, there are now twelve instruc- 
tors and two hundred and fifty students And the institution is now 
conducted in four large buildings, with fifty acres attached, the whole 
property, near the town of Salisbury, being valued at $100,000. Besides 
the main building, there are seven or eight cottages for the use of the 
instructors. The school is owned, taught and controlled by negroes. 
The entire teacliing force is paid by the colored people themselves. 

This institution is supported by the Africnn Methodist Episcopal 
Zion Church. They appropriate $6,000 for its maintenance every year. 
In addition to this amount, the churches give $2,000 every year as 
Children's Day money. The students pay toward their own support 
about $1,000 every year. 

The President, the Rev. J. C. Price, D.D., a full-blooded negro, a man 
of fine ability and with remarkable gifts of oratory, makes the writer 
of these pages the following interesting statement: 

"As range of instruction we have three regular departments — pre- 
parator}^ normal and classical. The last course is al«o termed college 
course, and the person completing the studies of this course, receives 
the degree of A. B. The special work of the normal, of course, is the 
preparation of teachers and for others "who cannot or do not take the 
college course. Number of Faculty twelve, including officers, 

"Our buildings are large and commodious. One building is 100x40 
and four stories high, brick ; another is 60 x 40, four stories, brick ; 
ano'her is 91 x38, three stories, frame ; another is 66x 86, two stories, 
brick. Students are not admitted under twelve. Of 250 students, 200 
are from other towns and States. Last year we had seventeen States 
and seventy-five towns and cities represented in the institution. The 
sexes are about equally divided. 



94 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

"I neglected to say that buildings have been donated the institution 
by such men as the late Hon. Win. E. Dodge, Senator Leland Stanford, 
Hon. C. P. Huntington, and Mr. Stephen Ballard. We have more than 
a score of friends North and South, who give scholarships to the insti- 
tution for the purpose of aiding (not suj)portin.g) students." 

BIDDLE UNIVERSITY, Charlotte, is a collegiate institution, under the 
auspices of the Presbyterian Church, or, more specifically, under the 
care of the Board of Missions for Freed men of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States, Pittsburg, Pa. The University occupies large and 
fine buildings in Charlotte, and is named in honor of Major Henry J. 
Biddle, of Philadelphia, whose widow is now one of its most liberal 
supporters. The objects of the institution are the education of colored 
preachers and teachers, and fitting pupils for the useful avocations of 
life. It has a Theological Department, with a corps of five professors, 
with a course of three years; a college course, with a corps of six pro- 
fessors and a course of four years, with the usual college designation of 
classes. The college course embraces two courses of study— the Classi- 
cal and the Scientific — the students of the former receiving the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts on graduation ; the other that of Bachelor of Science. 
There is also a Preparatory and Normal Department, with its appro- 
priate Faculty; an Industrial Department, in which the mechanical 
trades are taught; and the Home Department, which embraces chiefly 
the domestic and internal order of the college buildings and grounds. 
The whole number of students for 1891-2 is 205, in all the departments, 
viz : Theological, 17 ; Collegiate, 51 ; Preparatory and Normal, 137. The 
President of the University is the Rev. D. J. Sanders, D.D. 

ST. AUGUSTINE THEOLOGICAL AMD NORMAL SCHOOL is an institution estab- 
lished in Raleigh for the education of colored pupils of both sexes. It 
is under the control of the Episcopal Church of North Carolina, and 
was established out of the proceeds of a bequest of ^40,000 made by a 
citizen of Pennsylvania. The institution is situated in the vicinity of 
Raleigh, and occupies suitable substantial buildings of brick, with sepa- 
rate provision for the two sexes. The course embraces the Theological, 
Collegiate, Normal, and Industrial branches. Young colored men are 
trained for the ministry, and also for the avocation of teaching. Young 
women are also trained as teachers, and attention is given to useful 
industrial training. The Rev. Mr. Hunter is now President, and the 
Rev. Dr. Sutton is at the head of the Theologicd Department. 

AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE FOR THE COLORED RACE.— Recog- 
nizing the need of })ractical training for the young men of tlie colored 
race, and with a view to aid them in maintaining themselves in the 



COLLEGES FOR THE COLOBED PEOPLE. 95 

higher grades of industrial life, the Legislature of North Carolina, at 
the session of 1891, enacted "that a College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts be established for the colored race, to be located at some eligible 
place within the State, to be selected by the Board of Trustees" charged 
with the management of the institution. The corporate name is "The 
Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race." 

The selection of the location was open to the offers of the various 
communities desirous of the presence of the institution, and was influ- 
enced, in connection with ease of access and similar considerations, by 
the most liberal offers in land and money for the erection of the build- 
ings. Greensboro became the successful bidder, and the work of con- 
struction is now in progress. 

The State appropriates annually out of the public moneys $2,500 to 
the support of the school. 



9G HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 

The counties in the State are ninety-six in number. Addition to 
them has been made, as demanded by the exigencies of increasing popu- 
lation, by subdivision of the hirger ones, or the combination of portions 
of those lying contiguous to each other. The limit of addition has now 
probably been reached. 

The counties have already been named in the statement of popula- 
tion. The}' will be considered here alphabetically, the descriptions 
being drawn from personal observation or the most reliable authorities; 
and the statistics are taken from the last annual report of the Auditor 
of the State, excepting such as relate to industrial operations, natural 
resources and such other topics as are germane to those subjects. 

The first to be named is the county of 

ALAMANCE. 

Historically, this county possesses great interest. It was the focus of 
the troubles of the Regulator.*, and on its soil was fought the decisive 
battle between the Royal forces and those of the rebellious colonists, a 
preliminary to the struggle between the Crown and the colonies, to be 
continued until American Independence was secured by the succfss of 
the latter. The county was formed in 1848 from parts of Guilford and 
Orange. 

This county is drained by the upper waters of the Cnpe Fear River, 
and one of its principal tributaries, the Haw River, crosses it from the 
north-western to the southeastern corner. The soils of this count}' are 
largely fertile red-clay loams, with oak and hickory forests. Slate hills, 
which rise to the elevation of low mountain chains, occupy the southern 
end of the coun'y, and have oak and pine forests and thin, sandy loam 
soils. The northern portion consists of alternating tracts of gray sandy 
loams and red clays. The cotton belt barely touches the southern edge 
of the county. The upper end is devoted to the production of tobacco, 
and the whole of it to grain crops, of which the yield is large. 

The manufacturing facilities of the county are very great, and, in 
number of cotton-looms and spindles, Alamance stands first of all the 
counties in the State. There are also gold deposits, both vein and 
placer, in the middle and southern sections. 

The North Carolina Railroad runs through the centre of the county, 
and has been an important stimulus to its industries and general pros- 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 97 

perity. Graham is the county seat, with a population of 991. It con- 
tains three cotton factories. Haw River town, the seat of the Granite 
Cotton Factory, contains 317 inhabitants. Burlington, formerly known 
as Company Shops, and the location of the railroad machine-shops, has 
a population, by census of 1890, of 1,726. Here are five cotton factories. 

This county contains 230,039 acres of land, with a valuation of 
$1,885,543, and 501 town lots, valued at $528,998. The leading prod- 
uct is tobacco, the crop of which in 1889, by the Census Report of 1890, 
was 901,922 pounds, with a small area ill the south-east corner of the 
county in which cotton is successfully produced. The production of 
w^heat and other grains is large, and it is unsurpassed for the quality 
and abundance of the fruits adapted to the climate, and is also favor- 
able to the raising of the domestic animals. The Auditor's last report 
shows the number of these to be, 2,581 horses, 815 mules, 6 jacks and 
jennies, 43 goats, 5,891 cattle, 8,222 hogs, 4,113 sheep. 

The receipts from taxation from this report gives, as the general State 
tax, $9,541 67 ; for pensions, $1,287.28 ; for school purposes, $10,313.19; 
and for county purposes, $11,043.61. 

The population of Alamance b}'- the last census was, white', 12,688; 
colored, 5,583 ; all others, 3; total, 18,271. 

ALEXANDER. 

Alexander, one of the smallest counties in North Carolina, lies south 
of Wilkes, and is separated from it by the chain of the Brushy Moun- 
tains. A large part of this county is traversed or penetrated by spurs 
and high ridges thrown off southward from that range, many of which 
rise to the elevation of 2,000 feet, and its territory is drained southward 
by the tributaries of the Cataw^ba. The south-eastern section, as well 
as the middle, is characterized largely by oak forests, with red-clay soils, 
the higher divides and ridges and spurs showing a large admixture of 
pine and chestnut, and a more open light-colored and sandy soil. The 
northern, western, and north-eastern sections are quite broken and 
mountainous. The culture of cotton has entered the territory of this 
county within the last few years, though its product amounts to but a 
few scores of bales. Tobacco is cultivated to some extent on the lighter 
soils, but corn and wheat are the principal products. It has ample, 
but undeveloped, water-power, and it has iron-ore beds of considerable 
extent, as W'ell as a great variety of other minerals. 

The county contains 157,250 acres of land. The area in cultivation 
is well adapted to all the grains, as well as the other products already 
7 



98 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

named, and is especially adapted to fruits, and the sides of the Brush}' 
Mountains are famed for fine apples, peaches and cherries, the crops of 
which never fail, being secured by the existence of a thermal belt along 
the higher sides of that range of mountains. The Auditor's Report 
shows the following to be the number of domestic animals in the county : 
880 horses, 1,022 mules, 44 jacks and jennies, 4,204 cattle, 7,402 hogs, 
2,918 sheep. 

This county contains 157,250 acres of land, with a valuation of 
$590,789. 

The receipts for taxation are, for general State purposes, $2,476.93; 
for pensions, $387.15 ; schools, $3,142.91, and county taxes, $5,007.83. 

The population of Alexander, by the census of 1890 was, whites, 
8,558; colored, 842; all others, 3; total, 9,403. 

ALLEGHANY. 

Alleghany County is situated on the Virginia border, and is bounded 
southward by the curves of the Blue Ridge. In its middle section is a 
parallel and higher chain. Its entire surface is drained northward 
into the New and Kanawha Rivers, this, with the two following coun- 
ties, constituting the New River plateau or basin, the only part of the 
State drained by the Ohio. It lies on the north-eastern end of the long, 
narrow, elevated transmontane plateau, and has an average elevation 
of not less than 2,800 feet. Its forests are of oak, chestnut and pine, 
with an admixture of white pine in the coves of the Blue Ridge and 
between that and the Peach Bottom range. Its soils are the common 
gray and yell6w upland loams. Along the banks of the New River 
and its principal tributaries, especially Little River, are considerable 
tracts of bottom lands. Its agriculture is divided between the produc- 
tion of grains and grasses and cattle-raising. Its products of buck- 
wheat and rye are next to the largest in the State. 

It is a region well suited to the grasses, and the industry of dairy 
farming, its elevation assuring a temperate but not a cold climate in 
winter, and exemption from the heats of summer. The number of 
domestic animals is, 1,555 horses, 224 mules, 11 jacks and jennies, 8 
goats, 7,920 cattle, 5,743 hogs, 8,045 sheep. 

This county contains 139,978 acres of land, with a valuation of 
$355,454, and 64 town lots, valued at $6,443. 

Receipts for taxation are, State, $1,015.78 ; pensions, $250.54 ; schools, 
$2,149.04; county, $2,984.73. 

Population by the census of 1890, white, 4,967; colored, 519; total, 
5,486. 



DESCKIPTION OF COUNTIES. 99 

ANSON. 

Anson County lies on the southern border of the State, and is bounded 
on the east by the Pee Dee River. About one-third of its territory, in 
the south-eastern portion, belongs to the long-leaf pine belt, with its 
characteristic soils and forests. The north-western and northern sec- 
tions of the county consist of slate soils (gray, gravelly clays), occupied 
by forests of oak, short-leaf piue, hickory, dogwood, etc. The river hills 
near the Pee Dee have a sandy and gravelly loam, becoming more red 
and clayey on the lower slopes. There lies across the middle, in a 
north-east and south-west direction, a low, nearly level tract, five or six 
miles wide, of brown, yellow and gray sandy and clay loam soils, 
derived from the clays and sandstones of the Trias. These lands are 
naturally quite productive, but are much worn, and have been devoted 
mainly to the culture of cotton, which is the most important industry 
of the county, although the corn crops are quite large. For many 
years cotton was the chief agricultural product of the county, being 
the largest producer in the State, and the quality of the staple ranking 
higher than that of any upland staple produced anywhere in the cot- 
ton area of the United States. Relatively, the product now is less than 
formerly, partly from deterioration of soil, and partly through the facili- 
ties afforded by the construction of railroads through the county for 
transportation, thus inducing a diversity of crops and industries. By 
the census returns of 1890 the crop of 1889 was 10,822 bales. The 
county is traversed from east to west by the Carolina Central Railroad, 
and is connected with Cheraw, S. C. ; on the south by another railroad 
of a length of twenty miles. On the Carolina Central lie valuable and 
exhaustless quarries of brown sandstone of superior quality, and largely 
used throughout the State for building purposes. 

Wadesboro is the county seat, on the Carolina Central Railroad, and 
at the northern terminus of the Wadesboro and Cheraw Railroad. It 
has a population, by the last national census, of 1,198. It is a large 
interior cotton market, the annual receipts varying from 15,000 to 20,000 
bahs. It has a cotton factory and a silk-mill, the only one in the State, 
where &ilk yarns are converted into thread for Northern silk-weaving 
establishments. Near the town are noied quarries of much valued 
sandstone. Polkton has a population of 247, Lilesville of 222, and 
Morven a smaller one. 

The nature of the soil, and also the attention of the people so largely 
to the culture of cotton, have not favored the increase of the domestic 
animals. The number in ]890 was — horses, 1,055; mules,l,826; jacks 
and jennies, 5; goats, 56; hogs, 6,201 ; sheep, 2,048. 



100 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

This county contains 322,098 acres of land, valued at $1,095,993, and 
416 town lots, valued at $207,183. 

Product of taxation— State, $5,284 77; pensions, $752.07; schools, 
$6,529.09; county, $6,613.25. 

Population— white, 10,237; colored, 9,790; all other5,3; total, 20,030. 

ASHE. 

Ashe County lies in the north-western corner of the State, adjoining 
the States of Virginia and Tennessee, its south-eastern edge resting 
upon the summits of the Blue Ridge mountain chain. It is very 
rugged and mountainous, the spurs of the Smoky Mountains being 
thrust out almost across its entire territory and reaching at various 
points an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet, giving an average elevation of 
3,500 feet above tide. It is drained by the two forks of New River, 
which meet in its north-east corner. Its forests, soils, and agriculture 
resemble those of Alleghany County. Grass and cattle count for much 
in this region, and rye and buckwheat are its common crops, as well as 
of Alleghany and the whole transmontane plateau. In the former 
(rye) this county shows the largest product in the State, and in the 
second it is nearly equal to the best. White pine and hemlock, as well 
as poplar, sugar maple, wild cherry, and walnut, become important 
constituents of the forests in many places. Jefferson is the county seat, 
with a population of 413. 

This county contains 227,174 acres, valued at §742,160, and 78 town 
lots, valued at $190,275. The adaptation of the natural conditions of 
this county to pastoral as well as agricultural industry, is shown by 
the following statement of the number of domestic animals in 1890: 
2,500 horses, 384 mules, 12 jacks and jennies, 47 goats, 12,840 cattle, 
7,460 hogs, 10,609 sheep. 

Taxes— State, $3,297.21 ; pensions, $547.23; school, $5,160.05; county, 
$5,534.27. 

Population — whites, 15,033; colored, 595; total, 15,628. 

BEAUFORT. 

Beaufort County lies south of Washington County, on both sides of 
the Pamlico River, which, in this part of its course, is an arm of the 
sound of the same name, from 2 to 6 miles wide, and throws off several 
wide projections or bays into the county on both sides. It is bounded 
on the east by Pungo River, another broad arm of Pamlico Sound, 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 101 

whose waters also penetrate the county in numerous wide navigable 
bayous. A considerable proportion of the count}' is occupied by swamp 
lands. In the northern section, and across its whole breadth, lies the 
western extremity of the great intersound swamp, which attains its 
greatest elevation here of 40 feet above tide. In this culminating swell, 
between the Roanoke and Pamlico Rivers, rise numerous tributaries 
of these rivers and of the sounds. The central portion of this })art of 
the swamp belongs to that class of soils described as "pocoson," and is 
of very low fertility. Along the courses of the streams, as they flow 
out from this swell, are considerable marginal tracts of semi-swamp 
and oak flats, which are very productive. There are also belts of 
cypress swamp near Pamlico River and the other streams on both sides, 
and south of the swamp, in the middle as well as along the western 
edge of the county, the land is mostly a level piny woods, with a light 
sandy soil. In the eastern portion of the county, and on both sides of 
the Pamlico River, both along the banks of this river and of the before- 
mentioned projections, are large tracts of oak flats and semi-swamp, 
which are among the most productive soils of the region. Near the 
mouth of Pungo River occurs one of the largest prairies or natural 
meadows, Savannas, in the State, embracing an area of 1,200 or 1,500 
acres It is treeless and fringed by short-leaf pine and oak forests, and 
has a fine, close, gray sandy soil, as impervious as clay. Its subsoil is 
of the same character, but is more clayey, and is of a slightly yellowish 
color. Marl is found in various parts of the county, but is little used. 

Fishing is an industry of considerable importance. The catch of 
herrings and shad is second only in importance to the catch in the 
Albemarle section. Great quantities of these fish are shipped fresh, 
packed in ice, to the Northern markets, and are also sent into the inte- 
rior of the State. The same conditions exist in this county as are 
found in other counties for the raising of cattle. The Scuppernong 
grape and all of its varieties are indigenous. The celebrated Meish 
grape, named in honor of its discoverer, Mr. Albert Meish, a native of 
Westphalia, Germany, had its origin in this county. The business of 
wine-making can be carried on profitably. 

Beaufort was erected into a separate county prior to 1775, and named 
in honor of the Duke of Beaufort, one of the original Lord Proprietors 
of Carolina. About 40 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and 150 miles 
from Raleigh, the capital of the State, it is in form nearly a cjuadri- 
lateral, bounded on the north by the counties of Martin and Washing- 
ton, east by Hyde and Pamlico, south by Pamlico and Craven, and 
West by Pitt. 



102 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

To those seeking a home, there is no more important factor than a 
good healthy climate. In this particular Beaufort County is especially 
blest. Its location is such that it is never affected with either extreme 
heat or cold, nor with sudden changes. In the winter months there 
are a few cold spells, lasting from two days to a week, and during 
which the thermometer shows a general average of about 32° Fahren- 
heit. These cold spells soon give way to the warm exhilarating sun- 
shine, and the thermometer rises again to its normal average for the 
winter, which is between 50° and 65° Fahrenheit. In the summer, 
while we of course have our hot days, as do all other places, yet the 
thermometer seldom records a temperature of over 90° Fahrenheit in 
the middle of the day, and even this is tempered by the gentle breezes 
which come from the broad expanse of salt water to the east of us. 
The general average for the summer months is about 80° Fahrenheit. 

Pamlico River, a beautiful stream, which varies in width from a 
quarter of a mile to five miles, runs through the county from about 
north-west to south-east, and empties into Pamlico Sound near tlie 
eastern extremity of the county. This river abounds in fish of the 
finest kinds, of which more will be said hereafter. The average depth of 
the channel of the river from its mouth to the western line of the county 
is about ten feet, and any vessel drawing not more than 8 feet loaded, 
can easily go to the extreme western end of the county b}'- means of 
the river. The county is divided by it nearly into equal parts, and, 
with its numerous tributaries, serves a most useful purpose as a means 
of getting to market the results of labor. By means of it a large com- 
merce is carried on, both by steam and sailing vessels, with the ports 
to the north, and some foreign commerce. Its banks are lined with 
farms and steam-mills, and upon its placid bosom the waterman pur- 
sues his vocation. 

The swamp lands are considered to be among the best in the world, 
being equal in fertility to the bottom lands of the Nile, though, unlike 
them, not depending upon an annual overflow for their fertility ; or the 
Mississippi bottom lands, and, unlike them, not being subject to inun- 
dation. These lands are, in all cases, found at the head of the numerous 
streams, wdiich rise in the county and feed Pamlico and Pungo Rivers. 

The lands are higher than any other lands in the county, and are 
shaped like an immense plate, of which the rim is the highest part. 
This rim serves to keep a certain amount of water in the centre, which 
has led to the term swamp lands. They are covered with the forest- 
kinds of timber, including pine, cypress, white cedar or juniper, gum, 
some oak, maple, beech and poplar. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 103 

These lands are nearly always very easily drained, and when drained 
are the easiest lands cleared in the world — the first crop of corn always 
paying the expenses of clearing, leaving the timber, which has been cut 
from the land, a clear profit. The method of clearing the land is to 
cut it down clean in the early fall and let it stay until spring, when, 
during a dr}^ time, it is burned off and corn planted, which will produce 
fifty bushels of corn per acre, at a cost of not over two dollars to cultivate. 

The number of acres in this county is 353,363, valued at §1,136,335. 

The number of live stock is — horses, 1,391; mules, 732; jacks, 2; 
goats, 285; cattle, 9,951 ; hogs, 10,284; sheep, 4,274. 

Population— white, 11,869; colored, 9,203; total, 21,072. 

Taxes— State, $7,322.47; pensions, $941.31 ; schools, $6,633.62 ; county, 
$13,501.23. 

BERTIE. 

Bertie County lies south of Hertford, in the angle between Roanoke 
and Chowan Rivers, and consists, for the most part, of level piny 
uplands, having a sandy loam soil ; but the northern part of it is largel}' 
pine flats, having an infertile ash-colored fine sandy soil. The south- 
ern part, near the Roanoke River, and along its chief tributary, the 
Cashie, are wide tracts of level oak and pine lands, which are very pro- 
ductive. The Roanoke River, through almost the whole length of this 
county, is bordered by a tract of alluvial lands from three to six miles 
wide, subject to annual overflows, and covered with heavy forests of 
cypress, maple, ash, etc., which are among the most fertile of the con- 
tinent. In the middle region, on and near the Cashie and its tributa- 
ries, are considerable bodies of valuable swamp and semi-swamp lands. 
Cotton, corn, potatoes, fish and lumber make up the list of industries 
of this county. Marl is found in the southern and middle sections. 

Windsor is the count}' seat, with a population of 522. Lewiston has 
a population of 373. 

The number of acres in this county is 374,419, valued at $1,449.34, 
and 283 town lots, valued at $151,430. 

The number of domestic animals is 1,811 horses, 1,044 mules, 3 jacks 
and jennies, 157 goats, 9,027 cattle, 18,811 hogs, 5,360 sheep. 

The product of taxation is — general taxes, $6,880.25 ; pensions, $977.10; 
schools, $11,821.81; county, $8,656.94. 

Population— white, 7,<S85; colored, 11,291 ; total, 19,176. 



104 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



BLADEN. 

Bladen County lies south of Cumberland, and, like it, on both sides 
of the Cape Fear River. It has narrow zones of pine barrens running 
parallel to the river courses nearly the whole length of the county, and 
it also abounds in cypress swamps and alluvial "bottoms" along its 
streams. There are also large bodies of level piny woods. Marl is 
found in the bluffs of the river. On many of the streams are exten- 
sive bodies of gum and cypress swamps. This county has a very lim- 
ited agriculture, the chief crop being corn; and very little cotton is 
produced, turpentine and lumber being still among the chief interests. 
On the western side of the Cape Fear River the lands are higher and 
less occupied by swamps than on the eastern, but there are fine produc- 
tive lands along the Cape Fear — productive in coi;ii, but exposed to the 
dangers of overflow. The eastern side, near the river, has good bottom 
lands extending back some distance from the river, and these are suc- 
ceeded towards the east by extensive swamps extending along the mar- 
gins of South and Biack Rivers, and-including the large area of Colley 
Swamp; therefore the area of arable land i? relatively small. On this 
side are found a number of small lake'. Two railroads traverse the 
county — the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley on the east, and the Caro- 
lina Central on the west — which, together with the streams, give ample 
facilities for the trans[)ortation to market of the leading products of the 
county — timber, lumber and naval stores. Elizabeth is the county seat. 

The number of acres in the county is 454,912, valued at ^1, 006,929, 
and 101 town lots, valued at $23,375. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 572; mules, 784; jacks, 
2; goats, 595; cattle, 8,289; hogs, 20,700; sheep, 4,734. 

The product of taxation is — general taxes, §4,072 38; pensions, 
$654.43; schools, $5,407.53; county, $4,309.25. 

Population — white, 8,046; colored, 8,117; total, 16,763. 

BRUNSWICK. 

Brunswick County lies on the west side of the Cape Fear River, and 
touches the Atlantic on the south. Its central and western portion is 
occupied by the great pocoson known as Green Swamp, which, with its 
many projections, covers nearly half the territory of the county. This 
swamp is bordered by wide tracts of canebrakes, and contains extensive 
areas of gum, cypress and juniper swamps, which have been for half a 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 105 

century the center of a large lumber trade. The various streams which 
flow from this swamp to all points of the compass are bordered by oak 
flats, tracts of semi-swamp, and often by canebrakes, and in the body 
of it are numerous hummocks or flat ridges having a silty soil and a 
growth of short-leaf pine and small oaks. Between the arms of the 
swamp, on the narroM' divides, and particularh' in the southern portion 
of the county, near the seashore, are patches of long-leaf pine lands 
with sandy soils, and elsewhere of level pin}' woods, valuable for lumber 
and naval stores. Along the Cape Fear are large bodies of alluvial 
lands of unsurpassed fertility, which are among the best rice soils in 
this country. Waccamaw Lake occupies the highest part of Green 
Swamp, and covers an area of about forty square miles. Naval stores 
and lumber are, of course, the principal interest?, agriculture being of 
subordinate importance and limited mainly to the cultivation of rice, 
of which its product is more than double that of any other county in 
the State. 

At the mouth of the Cape Fear River lies the town of Southport, 
once called Smithville in honor of one of the former Governors of 
North Carolina, whose name is imperishably associated with the des- 
tinies of the University, but w4io is forgotten in that spirit of innova- 
tion w'hich neither reverences the past nor respects the present. This 
port offers a fine harbor, used at present as an incoming or an outgoing 
stopping point for vessels inward or outward bound, in connection with 
Wilmington, and also as a refuge fur vessels in distress, now much 
utilized by reason of the increased depth of water on the bar. It is 
destined to be a very important coaling port, lying on the path of both 
north- and south-bound vessels, to which object great facilities will soon 
be added by the completion of a road into the interior, lately begun, 
and to be connected with the coal-fields. Southport is the county-seat, 
with a population of 1,207. 

The number of acres of land in the county is 410,655, valued at 
$527,400; and 225 town lots, valued at $121,565. 

The number of domestic animals is— horses, 345; mules, 199; goats, 
711; cattle, 8,279; hogs, 16,447; sheep, 593. 

Proceeds of taxation— State, $2,680; pensions, $403.93; school, $4,861; 
county, $2,931.40. 

Population— white, 6,139; colore 1, 4,767; total, 10,900. 



106 HAND-BOOK OF XORTH CAROLINA. 



BUNCOMBE. 

Buncombe County, once so ample in its area as to receive, and almost 
merit, the title of the "State of Buncombe," is now much reduced in 
extent, and is no larger than many of the counties of which it is the 
parent. Its eastern boundary follows the line of the Blue Ridge, its 
crests forming the dividing line between McDowell and Buncombe. 
On the west the New Found range marks the separation from Haywood 
County. Madison on the north, and Henderson on the south, have eo 
natural boundaries, the lines of division being artificial. 

The area of the county is 620 miles. The acreage is 341,542, of 
which 99,602 acres were improved at the time of the census of 1880. 
Nearly the whole surface is susceptible of improvement; for, though 
the mountains predominate as natural features, there are few without 
deep soil to the top, and much of the best pasture land and a large por- 
tion of land now used for the culture of fine yellow tobacco is mountain 
side or mountain top. 

Buncombe County is bisected by the French Broad River, which, 
rising in Transylvania, pursues a course nearly north, and passes out 
of the State into Tennessee at Paint Rock. It is a stream of consider- 
able volume and of surprising width for a mountain stream. At Ashe- 
ville it is 110 yards wide, and little less than that for twenty miles 
above. Below, the character of the stream changes and the width 
varies. At Asheville the rapids begin ; above that point the cur- 
rent is gentle, and there is natural navigation, with some obstructions 
which the National Government has partially removed up to Brevard, 
in Transylvania, a distance by water of forty miles. The water-power 
of the river has not been utilized. Above A.sheville there is none; 
below, the narrow interval between the river and the cliffs causes 
embarrassment in the location of mill-sites. The Swannanoa is the 
only other river in the county of any importance — more noted for its 
beauty than for its usefulness. Numerous small streams prove much 
more useful in their applications to mills and machinery than the 
larger bodies of water. 

The valleys of Buncombe County are narrow and limited in extent. 
The general surface of the county is hilly rather than mountainous, 
offering facilities for agricultural operations largely used, though the 
mountains are sufficiently lofty and abundantly numerous to give a 
mountainous character to the landscape. 





xS^ 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 107 

The soil of Buncombe is fairly fertile, but does not equal that of 
Haywood or Transylvania. But it is sufficiently productive in all the 
cereals, the grasses and fruits of the temperate zone. Wheat produces 
an average of ten bushels to the acre. Oats yield exuberantly; corn 
thrives and produces from thirty to fifty bushels to the acre; clover and 
all the grasses are so well favored by soil and climate as to appear 
indigenous. The fruits find a congenial home here, especially the 
apple, which, in size and flavor, and in abundant, healthy yield, are 
seldom equaled. The Irish potato here finds a favoring soil and cli- 
mate, the yield being great and of superior quality. All kinds of vege- 
tables grow with luxuriance, and the cabbage is especially noticeable 
for size and good quality. 

The timber of this county includes all the varieties known in the 
mountains — oak, hickory, walnut, elm, beech, birch, sycamore, maple, 
locust, buckeye, pine, the hemlock, spruce and others, with an under- 
growth of chinquepin, dogwood, laurel, kalmia, azalea and other 
shrubby trees. 

Among the products of the county is tobacco, the one which has most 
largely and most rapidly added to the profits of agriculture. It has 
been cultivated as a general crop only within the past twelve j'^ears, and 
the soil of the hills down the French Broad, and back a few miles from 
the river, seem better adapted to its culture than the southern portion 
of the county, where few planters have attempted it. The quality pro- 
duced is almost altogether the bright yellow, of a quality that com- 
mands prices equal to those obtained for the tobacco of the center of 
North Carolina. The culture is increased under growing demand and 
convenient markets, and it has become the money crop of a greater part 
of the county. 

Buncombe County is traversed by three railroads, or rather by three 
branches of the same road, the main stem of the Western North Caro- 
lina road entering the county from the mouth of the Swannanoa Tun- 
nel, and dividing at Asheville into the Paint Rock branch, which is 
43 miles in length, and the Ducktown or Pigeon River branch, finished 
to Murphy, a distance of 130 miles; and by the Asheville and Spartan- 
burg road to Spartanburg, S. C, a distance of 70 miles. 

Asheville is the county-seat, a city containing now a population of 
upwards of 12,000, with all the conveniences of a city, with numerous 
fine hotels unsurpassed in the South, electric and gas lighting, electric 
railways, waterworks, sewerage, improved streets, telephone exchange, 
ice factories, etc. Its fame as a health and pleasure resort extends over 
the continent. 



108 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Buncombe County contains 341 ,622 acres of land, valued at $2,138,293; 
and 1,859 town lots, valued at $2,960,712, the total valuation for county 
and town and other property listed for taxation reaching $7,624,918. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 3,382; mules, 2,320; 
jacks and jennies, 23; goats, 20; cattle, 14,231; hogs, 11,161; sheep, 
4,98L 

Taxes — State, $20,369.38; pen.sions, $2,708.12; school, $18,740 36; 
county, $35,968.60. 

Population— white, 28,640; colored, 6,626; all others, 11 : total, 35,266. 

BURKE. 

Burke County lies westward of Caldwell on both sides of the Catawba 
River, which traverses its middle section and drains its entire territory. 
Its southern flank lies upon the crests of the South Mountains, which 
here reach an elevation of over 3,000 feet above the sea and send off 
spurs in a northerly and north-easterly direction almost to the middle 
of the count3^ The northern end is elevated upon two of the most 
massive spurs of the Blue Ridge, Linville and Table Rock, which here 
rise to an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet; and from this are thrust out 
numerous long and rugged spurs and ridges in a south-easterl}' course. 
A large part of the territory of this county, therefore, is mountainous, 
and the average elevation is not less than 1,300 feet. In its middle 
section are considerable tracts of red-clay soils, with forests predomi- 
nantly of oak, hickory, etc., while the remainder of the county is char- 
acterized in this respect by mixed forests of oak, pine, chestnut, etc., 
with white pine in the mountains of the south and north. The river 
and creek bottoms are very extensive and fertile, and have light-colored 
clays, loams, and sandy soils. In the middle section, on both sides of 
the river, the uplands usually have a red-clay soil and oak forests. The 
other parts of the county have soils of a lighter color, yellowish to gray 
loams, and forests of the usual mixed character of the region — oak, pine, 
chestnut, sourwood, dogwood, etc. Placer gold mines are numerous in 
the South Mountains, and there are several vein mines on the north 
side of the county. Cotton and tobacco have been added to the list of 
cultivated crops within a i'ew years, but grain forms the chief crop. 

The diffusion of gold through this county is remarkable. It is found 
chiefly on the south side of the line of the Western North Carolina 
Railroad, and most largely among the South Mountains, on its spurs 
and among its valleys. The gold area extends into the adjoining 
county of Rutherford, the placer workings of which have been only 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 109 

surpassed in profit by those in California, and at one time the resort to 
them was as large and tumultuous as ever animated the immortal 
" Forty-nine-ers " The quantity of gold taken here between 1832 and 
1842 was so great, and the needs of a circulating medium for the con- 
venience of miners and the country around, that the General Govern- 
ment authorized the issue, by Dr. Bechtler, of Rutherford, of gold pieces 
of the denominations of $1, $2.50 and $5, pure gold, without alloy ; and 
so great was the trust reposed in the knowledge and the integrity of 
the coiner, that the issue of this private, unique mint, passed current 
without question throughout the Union. 

Morganton, the county seat, is the site of the great and handsomely 
built Western Asylum for the insane; and the Asylum for the Deaf and 
Dumb for the whites, having become in danger of being overcrowded 
with patients with the growth of population, the Legislature has made 
provision for the erection of another institution at Morganton for the 
same class of unfortunates, to be known as " The North Carolina School 
for the Deaf and Dumb." Here also is a cotton factory and an exten- 
sive steam tanner}', one of the largest and best equipped in the South. 
The population is 1,557. Glen Alpine has a population of 252. 

There are in Burke Count}- 379,347 acres of land, valued at $780,110, 
in addition to the value of 312 town lots at $146,977. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 1,20G; mules, 1,196; 
jacksand jennies, 23 ; goats, 21 ; cattle, 6,093 ; hogs, 8,012; sheep, 2,646, 

Taxes— State, $3,612.68; pensions, $558.92; schools, $4,995.48; 
county, $11,506.25. 

Population— white, 12,378; colored, 2,561 ; total, 14,939. 

CABARRUS. 

Cabarrus County isnotunlike the adjacent counties in general features, 
its topographical character being similar, and its agricultural products 
the same. It is drained by the upper waters of Rocky River, one of the 
chief affluents of the Yadkin, and abounds in water-courses, which 
traverse its territory from north-west to south-east, dividing it into nar- 
row zones or flatfish swells, the higher parts of which are comparatively 
level and are covered with a growth of oaks and pines and have a char- 
acteristic gray to yellow loam soil, while along the borders of the 
streams there are numerous and often extensive tracts of alluvial bot- 
tom lands, which, as well as large tracts of red clay and dark gravelly 
loam soils, are covered with heavy forests of oak, hickory, walnut, pop- 
lar, maple, etc. Along the eastern margin of the county lies a narrow 



110 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

belt of a few miles in breadth of slate hill-land, in the forests of which 
the short- leaf pine predominates. The soils of this tract are much less 
productive than the average of the county. Cotton enters as a large 
element into the agriculture of this county, and divides almost equally 
the attention of its population. 

Cabarrus was early famed for the discovery within its territory of 
the largest mass of pure gold ever found in the eastern part of the 
United States. The search for that metal was continued for many years 
with great success by placer mining, and is still continued in that form 
and also by vein mining. 

Concord, the county seat, on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, 
is a thriving town with a population of 4,339, and contains cotton 
mills and other manufacturing establishments. Mount Pleasant has a 
population of 375. 

The county contains 223,034 acres of land, valued at $1,565,292, and 
563 town lots, valued at §284,245. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 2,129; mules, 1,601; 
jacks and jennies, 1 1 ; goats, 33 ; cattle, 0,370 ; hogs, 8,236; sheep, 2,716. 

Taxes produce for State purposes, $8,142.47; pensions, $1,105.17; 
schools, $9,069.43 ; county $10,021.75. 

Population— white, 12,863 ; colored, 5,459 ; total, 18,142. 

CALDWELL. 

Caldwell County lies upon the flanks of the Blue Ridge, and extends 
southward beyond the Brushy Mountains, a smaller and parallel range 
2,000 feet and more in altitude. It is drained by the upper tributaries 
of the Catawba River and of the Yadkin, the larger of which rise in the 
summits of the Blue Ridge and its culminating region in Grandfather 
Mountain, which touches the elevation of nearly 6,000 feet above the 
sea. This mountain throws off a number of long, heavy spurs down 
to the middle of the county, and is traversed midway, in a direction 
parallel to the other two chains, by the Warrior Mountains, so that its 
surface is for the most part quite broken and rugged; but the different 
chains are separated by extensive open valleys, and there is a great area 
of river and creek bottoms. The lands in the middle and southern 
sections generally have a red-clay or yellow sandy loam soil of more 
than medium fertility, while its higher regions on the ridges and spurs 
of the mountains are frequently slaty ledges, with gray sandy and 
gravelly soils of medium to low quality. Its forests are predominantly 
of oak in the middle section, and of pine and oak in the southern and 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. Ill 

northern — that is, in the more mountainous regions, while, in the latter 
section, white pine, hemlock and chestnut constitute a considerable ele- 
ment of the forest growth. The chief crops are grain, but tobacco cul- 
ture has been recently introduced, and for a few years past a few bales 
of cotton have been raised in an experimental way. 

Through the northern part of this county run the Yadkin River and 
some of its upper tributaries, along which lie that beautiful system of 
broad and fertile valleys which so early in the history of this section 
of the State attracted settlement, the immigration being marked by the 
preponderance of brave, energetic men, able to secure their hold against 
the resistance of the Indians, as well as to subdue the forces of nature, 
resulting in that lengthened period of repose and the reduction of the 
valleys to that finish of culture and stage of refinement which they 
now present to the eye. The Valley of the Yadkin is conspicuous 
through its entire length for its beauty, fertility and productiveness. 

Lenoir is the county seat, a pretty village of H75 people, and long 
noted as an educational centre. It is the terminus of the Chester and 
Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad, connecting at Hickory with the Western 
North Carolina Railroad. 

The number of acres of land is 334,271, valued at $853,278; and 205 
town lots, valued at $76,343. 

'i'he number of domestic animals is — horses, 1,208; mules, 972; jacks 
and jennies, 39; cattle, 6,804; goats, 19; hogs, 10,086; sheep, 3,224. 

Taxation yields— for State purposes, $3,915.30; pensions, $578.15; 
schools, $4,270; county purposes, $4,536.46. 

Population — white, 10,737; colored, 1,561; total. 12,318. 

CAMDEN. 

Camden County is a long narrow strip of territory, parallel to Cur- 
rituck. Northwestward it reaches the Dismal Swamp, and southward 
Albemarle Sound, and lies between two of its projecting arras, Pasquo- 
tank River and North River. The northern and larger portion of this 
county belongs to the description of semi-swamp or oak flats, and along 
the main rivers, and frequently for a mile or two from their margins, 
are gum and cypress swamps. At a distance from the streams tl^ese 
lands, as in the preceding county, are characterized by a heavy growth 
of oak, hickory, short-leaf pine, etc. The middle portion of the south- 
ern end of this county, along the divide between its two bounding 
water-courses, has a narrow zone of sandy loam soil, with long-leaf pine 
forests. The main crops are corn and cotton, with some small grains; 



112 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

but fishing and truck-farming are also among the common and profit- 
able industries, and several thousand bushels of flax-seed are annually 
exported. Shipments are made to Norfolk by the Dismal Swamp Canal 
and by rail. 

The county contains 118,235 acres of land, valued at $330,444; and 
65 town lots, valued at $21,155. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 934; mules, 297; jacks, 
2; goats, 27; hogs, 7,765; cattle, 3,268; sheep, 1,328. 

Taxation produces — for state purposes, $1,467.89 ; pensions, $229.91 ; 
schools, $3,421.32; county, $2,903.15. 

Population— white, 3,347 ; colored, 2,320 ; total, 5,567. 

CARTERET. 

Carteret County occupies a long strip of country south of Craven 
County and of Pamlico Sound, and is bounded southward by the 
Atlantic Ocean. It is traversed east and west through the middle by a 
succession of swamps, the largest of which, occupying its eastern penin- 
sular projection, is called the Open Ground Prairie Swamp. This is a 
peat swamp, quite barren in its middle parts, but fringed around its 
margin with oak flats and gray silty soil. There is also a line of sand 
islands (sand dunes) along the coast, and inland, parallel to the coast, 
are several ridges of long-leaf pine sandy lands. The highest part of 
the county is only 37 feet above tide. Carteret has the advantage of 
the best harbor on the coast of this State. 

This county lies immediately on the sea coast ; its general direction 
is east and west or nearly so. It is protected from the ocean by narrow 
strips of beach and sand hills, that are known as the banks. Between 
these banks are two narrow sounds, navigable for small vessels, known 
as Core Sound and Bogue Sound. There are several navigable creeks 
emptying into these sounds, giving facilities to farmers for the shipment 
of their crops. The soil is generally light and sandy, and will produce 
all of the cereals and cotton, also melons of very large size and of exqui- 
site flavor ; also sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, and all kinds of vegeta- 
bles. The season is very early, owing to the proximity of the ocean. 

The Atlantic and North Carolina Pailroad terminates at Morehead 
City, which lies immediately on Beaufort harbor; the waters are of 
sufficient depth to admit vessels of very large size. On the bar there 
are twenty feet of water at mean tide. In this county, on the strips of 
land called the Banks, arc droves of wild hardy horses, known as bank 
ponies. These animals, though small, make very efficient farm horses. 



DPJSCKIPTION OF COUNTIES. 113 

There is another industry, that with suitable appHances, could be 
carried on very profitably by the people of Carteret County ; the indus- 
try is whaling. At certain seasons these huge monsters of the deep 
visit the shores of North Carolina, and are frequently seen in large 
schools. Early in the eighteenth century, the coast of North Carolina 
was a famous cruising ground for the New England whaler. An early 
writer says, that the whale fishery then carried on by the New Eng- 
lander on the coast of North Carolina yielded annually from eleven to 
thirteen hundred tons of oil, and that he had seen three whale ships at 
one time in the Cape Fear. 

Beaufort is the county seat, with a population of 2,845, including the 
township ; and Morehead City, the terminus of the Atlantic and North 
Carolina Railroad, has a population of 1,140. 

The number of acres of land in the county is 162,700, valued at 
$294,342, and 1,478 town lots, valued at $329,842. 

Number of domestic animals— horses, 1,247; mules, 76; goats, 135 ; 
cattle, 6,866 ; hogs, 9,304 ; sheep, 2,310. 

Taxes produce for State purposes, $2,366.55; pensions, $346.45; 
schools, $3,755.91 ; county taxes, $3,204.16. 

Population — white, 8,528 ; colored, 2,297 ; all others, 1 ; total, 10,825. 

CASWELL. 

Caswell County has a somewhat thin gravelly soil, though with 
rich bottoms along Dan River, which flows along and through its 
northern border and along Country Line and Hyco Creeks. The larger 
part of its territory is devoted to the production of bright yellow tobacco, 
while grain crops occupy a comparatively subordinate position, and 
are produced principally along the river and creek bottoms which 
abound in the northern and eastern sections of this county. The north- 
eastern section consists largely of red clay lands, with oak and hickory 
forests, while the lighter tobacco soils occupy most of the southern and 
western portions. Caswell ranks third among the tobacco counties in 
aggregate product. The crop of 1889, by the census returns of 1889, 
was 2,510,699 pounds. 

It has only a few urban settlements, the population being distributed 
on their farms, well cultivated and largely adorned with handsome and 
commodious houses. Yanceyville is the county seat, noted for its ele- 
gant court-house. Its population is small. 

Caswell Count}^ contains 248,256 acres of land, valued at $1,163,676, 
and 286 town lots, valued at $118,676. 
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DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES, 115 

town in the county, containing a large wagon factory, wood- works, 
good hotels, schools, churches, &c. In the county, eight miles distant, 
are the famous Catawba Springs. 

The county contains •261.479 acres of land. SS7 town lots, valued at 
S340Xm)1. 

Domestic animals — horses, 1,923; mules. 1.171: jacks and jennies, 
IS: goats, 6S : cattle. 7,431: hogs, 10.775: sheep. 4,0i?4. 

Proceeds of taxation — for State purr^oses -S7.4SS : pensions. §1.023.19 : 
schools, SS,363 : county, §7,631.43. 

Population— white. 16,073 : colored. 2.010 ; total, 18,6S9. 

CHATHAM. 

Chatham County lies contiguous to the long-leaf pine belt, and 
includes a small strip of it along the southern edge. It is drained by 
the waters of the Cape Fear River, the main affluents of which unite 
near its south-east corner. The principal of these. Deep River, has. on 
both sides, extensive bottom lands, covered with oak and short-leaf pine 
forests, which are very pro«iuctive. A large part of its surface is hilly 
and broken, especially near the rivers, and in the middle and north- 
eastern sections these hills rise to an elevation of from 6Cmj to 7(hj feet 
above the sea, attaining, in a few cases, the elevation and designation 
of small mountains. The average elevation is o<M) feet. The soils are. 
for the most part, those of the oak uplands, generally sandy gray to 
yellowish loams, alternating here and there with belts of red-clay soil. 
Toward the southern border occur the sandy and gravelly oak and 
pine hills. With the exceptions noted, the forests consist mostly of 
oak. hickory, etc. Along the eastern margin of the county is a wide, 
level tract of oak and pine lands, with a gray clay loam soil of Triassic 
origin. Only a minor portion of Chatham, in the southern and east- 
ern parts, is devoted to the culture of cotton, grain crops constituting its 
predominant agricultural interest. The tobacco crop for 1SS9 is given 
as 345,406 pounds. Its facilities for manufacturing are unsurpassed. 
Two large and two other considerable rivers cross its territory, with a 
fall of from 300 to 400 feet, and develop a force of more than 40.000 
horse-power. The rivers provide only meagre facilities for naviffation, 
but this defect is supplied by the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line Rail- 
road, which passes through the southern part of the county, and which 
connects Pittsboro. tbe county seat, by a branch road of twelve miles, 
with Moncure. The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley road runs through 
the whole western end of the couutv. and its consiruciion luis stimu- 



116 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lated the growth of numerous villages, such as Egypt, Gulf, Ore Hill, 
Siler City and others, all of which have become centers of industrial 
pursuits, and also of good schools. At Egypt is a coal mine, the most 
extensive in the State, opened before the war, and now again operated 
with success. The coal is bituminous. At Ore Hill is a very valuable 
iron mine, worked during the Revolutionary war, and again during 
the late Civil war, and is now to be largely utilized in connection with 
the steel works in ]»rocess of erection at Greensboro. 

Pittsboro is the county seat. Its population was not returned sepa- 
rate from that of the township. Combined, it was by the census of 1890, 
2,242. Siler City has 254. 

The total number of acres in the county is 408,184, the value of 
which is ^1,850,857, and there are 638 town lots, valued at ^94,912. 

Of domestic animals there are 2,766 horses, 2,424 mules, 23 jacks and 
jennies, 859 goats, 14,141 cattle, 26,879 hogs, 18,207 sheep. 

Product of taxation— State, §8,048.40; pensions, $1,203.05; schools, 
$9,664.29; county, §12,186.03. 

Population— white, 17,214; colored, 8,199; total, 25,413. 

CHEROKEE. 

Cherokee County occupies the extreme western corner of the State, of 
which it includes the whole breadtli, at this point less than 20 miles. 
It is bounded in part on the nortli by the Smoky oNIountains, and 
touches the States of Tennessee and Georgia on the west and south. 
The valley of the Valley River is open and comparatively level, with 
extensive bottoms and bordering hilly lands. This valley is nearly 20 
miles long and from 3 to 5 miles broad, and contains a large propor- 
tion of fine agricultural lands. Its agriculture is divided between the 
culture of grains and grasses and cattle-raising, and mines of gold, iron 
and soapstone have been open and wrought for many years. The 
iron-ore deposits are of great extent, and there is a great variety of 
colored marble on Valley and Xantahala Rivers which needs only 
means of transportation to become valuable. 

The timbered land amounts to at least twelve-thirteenths of the entire 
area and is covered generally with a heav}' growth of almost all the 
varieties of the oak except the live oak, interspersed with white and 
scaly bark hickory ; tulip or (poplar) of two varieties, cucumber and 
wahoo, white ash, wild cherry (black and bird cherry), black and white 
walnut, black and sweet gum, red, white, mountain and ash-leaved 
maples, persimmon, dogwood, chestnut and chinquapin, red, yellow 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 117 

and black birch, sassafras, white, yellow and black pines, hemlock (or 
spruce pine), linn or lime, snowdrop tree, black, yellow and honey locust, 
yellow wood (Cladadis tindoria), crab apple, service, hornbeam and 
ironwood, sycamore, etc. Portions of Cherokee, Graham, Swain and 
Macon Counties contain very large quantities of chestnut oak as well as 
hemlock, and can thus furnish the materials for the largest tanning 
operations, as the climate and waters are so mild and pure as to offer 
great inducements in this line as soon as the railroads are completed 
to this section. 

Besides the valley of Valley River already named, the valley of the 
Hiawassee and Nottely Rivers, of Peach Tree, Brass Town and other 
creeks, extend an area of fertile and level arable lands found to wider 
extent than elsewhere in the mountains, the recession of the Blue Ridge 
into north Georgia permitting a large area of lands, hilly but not moun- 
tainous, together with the valleys, offering with favorable climate ai*i 
fertile soil every encouragement to agricultural pursuits. 

In minerals this county is exceedingly prolific. Gold is found in 
numerous localities and has amply rewarded research. Iron in abund- 
ance and of superior quality is of such quantity and value as long since 
to have attracted industry and capital; marble of all colors and varie- 
ties underlays many sections, and is worked to advantage; talc or 
soapstone is found in great abundance and of peculiar excellence, and 
the quarries in Nottely River have long furnished exhaustless supplies 
to a Georgia Company. Manganese is found abundantly in addition 
to other minerals. 

The Western North Carolina Railroad is now completed to Murphy, 
and the North Georgia and Marietta road connects that town with 
Atlanta. With the addition of these facilities to access and transporta- 
tion, capital has already been attracted to the county, and the rich 
resources of the county promise early development. 

Murphy, the county seat, is reported with a population of 803. 

There are 324,583 acres of land in the county, valued at ^871,884, 
and 207 town lots, valued at $134,521. 

The number of domestic animals is— horses, 1,055; mules, 522; 
jacks, 11; goats, 34; cattle, 8,052 ; hogs, 9,516; sheep, 6,910. 

Products of taxation — State, $359.45; pensions, $504.47; schools, 
$3,V85.33; county, $8,147.30. 

Population — white, 9,655; colored, 321 ; others (Indians), 48; total, 
10,124. 



118 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHOWAN. 

Chowan County lies in the angle of the Chowan River and Albe- 
marle Sound. Northward it consists of sandy, upland piny woods, 
except narrow tracts along the river and some of its tributaries, where 
cypress swamps of considerable extent are found ; and there are also 
large areas of oak flats. The southern portion of the county, lying near 
the sound and south of the Yeopim River, is characterized by a gray 
clay-loam soil and a mixed oak and pine forest growth, and is for the 
most part very productive. Bear Swamp, which crosses the county in 
a north-east and south-west direction, is more properly a semi-swamp 
from 3 to 5 miles wide, very level, with a gray silty soil, and the char- 
acteristic growth of such lands comprises short-leaf pine, oaks, maple, 
ash, dogwood, occasionally cypress and gum, and frequently a large 
admixture of holly, which here attains the size of oaks and furnishes a 
superior cabinet wood. Its fisheries are among the largest and most 
profitable in the country. Being surrounded on three sides by navi- 
gable waters and crossed by a line of railway, the county has abundant 
means of transportation. 

The fisheries referred to are probably the largest and most profitable 
in the section devoted to that industry, lying along the shores of Albe- 
marle Sound and the lower w^aters of Chowan River. The seine fish- 
eries engage much capital and numerous hands; the seines, including 
the handling ropes, are upwards of two miles in length, and are drawn 
into the shore by steam power. The fishing season begins in February 
and continues until early in May. The principal catch is shad, now 
chiefly packed in ice and sent fresh to the Northern markets ; herring, 
caught in immense numbers, often from 60,000 to 100,000 in one haul, 
largely shipped fresh on ice, but mostly salted and packed in barrels; 
rock fish, sturgeon, perch and other fish. 

Edenton, the county seat, is one of the oldest towns in North Caro- 
lina, prettily situated on Edenton Bay, and has the benefit of water and 
railroad transportation, by the latter with Elizabeth City and Norfolk, 
and by the former with the navigation of the sound and other waters 
of the State. 

These facilities have greatly stimulated the business of truck farming, 
to which both soil and climate invite. The population of Edenton is 
given as 2,025. 

The county contains 95,632 acres of land, valued at $163,442, and 
445 town lots, valued at .^250, 754. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 119 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 881 ; mules, 451:; goats, 133; 
cattle, 2,457 ; hogs, 8,067 ; sheep, 582. 

Proceeds of taxation, for State, $3,103.70 ; pensions, $426.77 ; schools, 
$4,578.55 ; county, $3,541.85. 

Population — white, 4,010 ; colored, 5,157 ; total, 9,167. 

CLAY. 

The small county of Clay, lying on the southern border, touches the 
State of Georgia, and is bounded on the east by Macon County, which 
it resembles very closely in all ils features, physical and agricultural, 
and in its development. It is drained in a westerly direction by the 
Hiwassee River, which takes its rise in the Blue Ridge in Georgia). Its 
eastern section lies upon the high plateau of the upper Nantahala River, 
and on the north lies the chain of the Koneteh Mountains. A large 
part of its territor}- is very mountainous. It has fine, open valley lands 
on the river and its tributaries. Its southern section is hilly, somewhat 
mountainous, with fair agricultural capabilities. Both gold and mica 
are found, but have not been mined on any considerable scale. 

The county is finely diversified with mountains and valleys. Those 
bordering on the Hiwassee, alternately broad and contracted, are very 
fertile; those on the Tusquittee equally productive, though not so exten- 
sive. The broad rolling lands on the south along the Brasstown and 
some smaller streams, and bounded on the south by the Chestatoe 
and other spurs of the Blue Ridge, are well adapted to wheat and 
other small grains, and to grass. The mountains along the eastern 
and northeastern sides are high and rugged, forming a landscape of 
great picturesqueness. The soil throughout the county is well adapted 
to grass, and hay is cured in large quantities. The county is well 
adapted to stock-raising, both with natural and artificial pasturage, and 
large numbers of cattle and some horses and mules are annually driven 
to market. The lands are well tilled, and the number of improved 
implements for agriculture exceeds that of any county of its size in the 
western section. 

The county seat is Haysville, with a small population, that of the 
township being 1,500. 

The county contains 224,251 acres of land, valued at $262,418; and 
58 town lots, valued at $10,341. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 574; mules, 469; jacks and 
jennies, 16; cattle, 3,892 ; hogs, 7,032 ; sheep, 5,551. 

Products of taxation — for State, $1,235.12; pensions, $179.74; schools, 
$1,407.82; county, $3,036.86. 

Population — white, 4,055; colored, 142; total, 4,197. 



120 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CLEVELAND. 

Cleveland County is situated on the southern border of the State. 
Its northern end rests upon the summit of the South Mountains, at an 
elevation of nearly 3,000 feet above sea-level, and its upper half belongs 
properly to the Piedmont division. It is drained by several large tribu- 
taries of the Broad River, which rise in this chain and cross the county 
southward ioto South Carolina. Its agricultural and topographical 
features are very similar to those of Catawba County, to which its ter- 
ritory is contiguous. Its soils coi sist of alternating tracts of red or 
reddish clay and gray and yellow gravelly loams (chiefly the latter), 
and have their corresponding forests of oak, and of oak mingled w'ith 
pine. This county produces cotton throughout its territory, even up to 
the flanks and on the slopes of the South Mountains, although this 
form of agriculture is the growth of a decade, the product having 
increased twelvefold in that time. Gold mining is also a familiar 
industry, placers being common in the north, and vein mines in the 
south end. 

The soil is generally well adapted to grain, especially to wdieat, which 
is of fine quality and unusually productive, fifty-two bushels to the acre 
having been reported, and thirty bushels is not uncommon. Oats and 
corn thrive in unusual luxuriance. Tobacco proves well adapted to 
both soil and climate, and the finer varieties are in no way inferior to 
those raised in the counties which for generations have brought up their 
culture to the dignity of a fine art. And this is the result of diversi- 
ties in the characteristics of the soil, there being found those alterna- 
tions from the deep rich mould of the lowlands, and the lighter cover- 
ing of the uplands, not less abounding in the elements of fertility. 
The surface of the county is undulating, but it is watered b}' several 
large rivers and creeks, among which are the two Broad Rivers and 
Buffalo Creek. Along these stretch large areas of rich alluvial bottoms, 
unsurpassed in fertility. Among the subjects of cultivation to which 
there is every encouragement is that of the grape, which, in the past, 
received more attention than now. The Cleveland Vineyard covers 
more than one hundred acres, and its fruit was once in -large demand 
in the Northern markets. 

Among the minerals found in the CDunty is tin, found near King's 
Mountain, of which great ultimate expectation is entertained; mica, of 
which some of the largest pieces yet found have been obtained; gold, 
copper, corundum, kaolin, etc. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 121 

The water-power of the county is great and exhaustless, and is appHed 
to several cotton- mills and other industries. In addition to the aid of 
water-power, Cleveland has the aid of two important railroads — the 
Carolina Central, bisecting it nearly from east to west, with its eastern 
terminus at Wilmington ; and a part of the great Air-Line system, con- 
necting with Norfolk; and the Three C's, connected on the south with 
Charleston, with ultimate northern terminus on the Ohio River, but at 
present completed only to Marion, on the Western North Carolina Rail- 
road. These roads both pass by Shelby. 

Shelby is the county seat, finely situated on a series of dome-like 
hills, and, in beauty of location and elegance of construction, is unsur- 
passed by any town of its size in the State. It is intersected l)y broad, 
straight and shaded streets, and is adorned with a large, well-planted 
square, in the center of which is the court-house, on the apex of the 
series of hills, the culmination of fine prospects commanding the sur- 
rounding country and the distant mountains. Here there are good 
hotels, fine churches, flourishing schools and an industrious population. 
Two miles east are the Cleveland Springs, celebrated for their varied 
curative powers, their comfortable accommodations and their agreeable 
environments. Shelby has a population, by the census of 1890, of 
1,394; Kings Mountain, 429, and a number of other small villages. 

The county contains 271,957 acres of land, valued at $1,630,356; and 
781 town lots, valued at $289,926. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,282 horses, 2,432 mules, 11 jacks and 
jennies, 23 goats, 6,678 cattle, 8,247 hogs, 3,900 sheep. 

Products of taxation— State, $7,961; pensions, $1,127.14; schools, 
$8,692.56; county, $15,851.84. 

Population— white, 17,301; colored, 3,093 ; total, 20,394. 

COLUMBUS. 

This county lies in the south-east corner of the State bordering upon 
South Carolina. It contains a considerable portion of upland piny 
woods. It is penetrated through all its parts by narrow belts of gum 
and cypress swamps and considerable tracts of oak and pine flats. The 
average soil of its upland piny woods is of moderate fertility, well 
adapted to the growth of cotton, but the richer swamp and gray-loam 
lands are devoted principally to corn. Brown Marsh and White 
Marsh are two large bodies of swamp in the eastern side of the county, 
and Gum Swamp and others of less extent are found in the south and 
west. The production of cotton, potatoes and rice disndes with lumber 



122 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and naval stores the interest of its people. Marl is found in several 
parts of the county. 

The climate is mild, and from its proximity to the Gulf stream, has 
some features of the semi-tropical; to such extent that the sugar cane 
is cultivated to small extent by almost every family for domestic use, 
and cane sugar has been successfully made. It is a climate and soil 
well suited to the grape, and wine has long been made on a consider- 
able scale. 

The marshes furnish large quantities of timber, shingles and staves, 
which are floated to market through the Waccamaw and other streams 
having their sources in the county; or by the railroads which traverse 
the county, the Carolina Central, the Wilmington, Columbia and 
Augusta, and the Wilmington and Chadbourne. In this county is the 
beautiful and extensive sheet of water known as Waccamaw Lake, 10 
or 12 miles long, and from G to 8 wide, from 10 to 15 feet deep, with 
clear waters, abounding in fish, and on two of its sides with clean sand}'- 
beach. It is a frequent resort for pleasure parties from Wilmington 
and elsewhere 

Whiteville is the county seat, witti a population of 372. Columbus 
contains 545,747 acres of land, valued at $891,409, and 277 town lots, 
valued at $70,333. 

Of domestic animals it contains, horses, 071; mules, 614; goats, 
2,619; cattle, 10,029; hogs, 30,433; sheep, 9,350. 

Proceeds of taxation — Slate, $4,384; pensions, $r)61.71 ; schools, 
$7,815.09; county, $5,505.25. 

Population— white, 11,804; colored, 6,027; total, 17,831. 

CRAVEN. 

Craven is a large, straggling county, stretching 60 miles along the 
lower reaches of the Neuse River, which passes through its centre and 
drains its entire area. The physical description of its territory, espe- 
cially the southern and eastern sections, is identical with that of the 
two preceding counties. It consists largely of swamps, pocoson and 
oak flats. The section lying north of the Neuse River belongs for the 
most part in its agricultural features to the second subdivision, or long- 
leaf pine belt, having considerable tracts of pine flats and long-leaf 
pine ridges, with a soil often very sandj' and unproductive. Near its 
upper margin it is penetrated by considerable tracts of swamp and 
semi-swamp lands, which project southward from Pamlico River and 
form properly the western extension of Bay River Swamp. Along the 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 123 

southern shore of Neuse River the soil is mainly a close gray loam. 
The Great Dover Poeoson, occupying more than 100 square miles in 
its south-western angle, is elevated 60 feet above tide in its central part, 
and is very flat and sterile for the most part, but has strips of oak and 
pine flats radiating in all directions from the centre along the numer- 
ous streams. 

Craven County is interesting historically, as being one of the original 
Proprietary counties. It was formed from Bath County, and derives 
its name from William, Earl Craven, one of the Lord's Proprietors. 
It is more interesting, perhaps, from its having been selected by the 
Baron DeGraffenreid as the locality of his Swiss Colony, which was 
planted here in the early years of the 18th Century, the point of settle- 
ment at the junction of the Trent and Neuse Rivers, having been 
named after Bern, the principal city of the Swiss Canton from which 
the colonists were transplanted. The colony did not flourish ; yet in 
process of time it became the seat of refinement and high intellectual 
culture, and some of the leading men of North Carolina draw their 
origin from this place. 

The city is beautifully situated at the junction of Neuse and Tient 
Rivers, the Neuse forming its eastern, and the Trent its southern 
boundary; both wide and beautiful streams. The soil upon which it 
is built is light and sandy, and gently slopes to the rivers; consequently 
the drainage is perfect. Owing to its situation at the junction of two 
wide rivers, and only 28 statute miles from the ocean, the winters are 
mild, and the summer heats are greatly modified by the daily sea 
breeze from the south-west and south-east. 

The foreign trade, once extensive, but confined chiefly to the West 
Indies, has almost ceased to exist, and is replaced by the facilities 
aflforded by the addition of steam to the development of interior water 
ways, and by the introduction of railroads; and is probably greater 
than it was in 1885, when the following table was published : 45,000 
bales cotton, 3,000,000 shingles, 6,000,000 feet of lumber, 500 tons cot- 
ton-seed meal, 1,000 gallons cotton-seed oil, 200,000 bushels rough rice, 
40,000 boxes canned goods, 6,100 casks milled rice, 1,000 casks spirits 
turpentine, 8,000,000 wooden plates, 250,000 bushels of corn, 10,000 
barrels naval stores, 1,250 tons fresh fish, 40,000 barrels Irish potatoes, 
70,000 boxes green peas, 25,000 boxes beans, 14,000 packages vegeta- 
bles, 50,000 melons. 

There has been a vast addition to the trucking business, a fact that 
will be noticed elsewhere. 



124 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Craven County possesses one valuable peculiarity in a land so near 
the flat sandy ocean beach: the entire county is underlaid either with 
marl or with a conglomerate of shells as hard and as durable as granite, 
which is used for building purposes and also for the manufacture of 
lime. On the Trent River it is found in inexhaustible quantities, and 
on the sides of the river it rises in banks to the height of fifteen or 
twenty feet. 

Newbern, the county seat, and the only considerable town in the 
county, has a population of 7,843. It is beautifully laid off and well 
shaded, handsomely built, with fine public buildings, numberless fine 
residences, extensive business houses, mills and factories, and does a 
very extensive business in fish and trucking. 

Craven County contains 296,564 acres of land, valued at $635,563 ; 
and town lots valued at $935,237. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,029 horses, 586 mules, 10 jacks and 
jennies, 6,444 cattle, 423 goats, 12,528 hogs and 1,894 sheep. 

Products of taxation— for State, S7,255.20; pensions, $939.35; schools, 
$10,674.76; county, $20,043.77. 

Population — white, 7,175; colored, 13,358; total, 20,533. 

CUMBERLAND. 

Through the middle of Cumberland County, from its western mar- 
gin, on the Moore County line, to the Cape Fear River, which crosses 
the eastern side of the county, lies a broad, irregular zone of pine bar- 
rens, with a very sandy and unproductive soil and an almost exclusive 
growth of long-leaf pine. On both sides of this zone, along the norih- 
ern and southern sections of the county, with unimportant exceptions, 
and in the section eastward of ihe Cape Fear River, the soils belong to 
the class of gray sandy loams of the average upland piny woods. Near 
the river, on both sides, are large tracts of semi-swamp and oak and 
pine flats, which are very productive. Many of the streams which flow 
from the central pine barrens of the county contain narrow fr.nges of 
gum and cypre?s swamp, and the swampy tracts along the river often 
contain a considerable percentage of cypress. The turpentine and lum- 
ber interests are still important, though of diminishing importance each 
year with the gradual and certain consumption of the pine forests. The 
west side of the river, after rising from the river bottoms, is a rolling 
sandy county, comparatively unproductive, occasionall}^ presenting 
broad flats of lands susceptible of high improvement, producing grains 
and fruits of market excellence. The river lands are devoted to cotton 
and corn. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 125 

Through the pine lands run numerous bold, strong and swiftly flow- 
ing streams, never diminished by drought and rarely excited by freshet. 
These, from the earliest settlement, furnished convenient mill-sites, and 
originated that active lumber industry so stimulating to the prosperity 
of the count}' and that of the towns on the Cape Fear River; and, upon 
the successful introduction of the cotton manufacture into the State, 
their power was speedily applied to the use of cotton-mills, which were 
built in the town of Fayetteville, on Cross and Blount's Creek, on Buck- 
head, Beaver Dam and Rockfish (two of these) Creeks, and on Lower 
Little River; and on all of these there are now large and flourishing 
cotton factories. 

Cumberland County, of which Fayetteville is now the chief com- 
mercial city, was formed in 1734, and taken from that extensive terri- 
tor}' then called "Bladen," and was named in compliment to William, 
Duke of Cumberland. 

In 1736 a ship-load of emigrants came over from the Highlands of 
Scotland and located in Cumberland, on the Cape Fear River, near the 
mouth of Cross Creek, where the}'^ found a number of their countrymen 
already settled. For several 3'ears, and immediately after the battle of 
Ciilloden, 1746, large companies of the Highlanders continued to come, 
until their numbers became quite numerous; so that, in 1760, the set- 
tlement began to assume importance, and was formally set apart for a 
town. It was called " Campbellton," in honor of Mr. Farquhard Camp- 
bell, who was the principal personage among them. 

Fayetteville, the county seat, is situated at the head of steamboat 
navigation on the Cape Fear River, 120 miles by water above Wilming- 
ton. Its position, both with relation to the seaport of Wilmington and 
to the interior, gave it an early and a very great importance, and after 
the Revolutionary war it became the chief receiving and distributing 
point for a greater number of the interior towns and counties. It lost 
much of its importance by the construction of railroads, which largely 
diverted its traffic to other points. By enlarging the operations of its 
business, which it was enabled to do by the addition of naval stores to 
the subjects of its business, and by the construction of several railroads, 
it is rapidly regaining what it had lost. It now has the Cape Fear and 
Yadkin Valley road, extending from Mt. Airy, in Surry County, pass- 
ing through Greensboro and terminating at Wilmington, with a branch 
from Fayetteville to Bennettsville, S. C, a total of upwards of 32.5 miles. 
In addition to this, the Coast Line system has completed its short-cut 
from Wilson, N. C, to Florence, S. C, thus shortening the distance 
between North and South, on this great highway of travel, by sixty 



126 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

miles. These additions to railroad facilities make Faj'elteville an 
important railroad centre, through the good influences of which it must 
develop and prosper. Favetteville is situated on the right bank of the 
Cape Fear River, and has a population of 4,222, and, including Cross 
township, of 6,072. 

Cumberland County contains 49-1,751 acres of land, valued at §1,382,- 
000; and 1,105 town lots, valued at $689,037. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,110; mules, 1,258; jacks 
and jennies, 14; goals, 1,440; cattle, 7,993; hogs, 23,234: sheep, 5,541. 

Products of taxation — for State purposes,S7,795.24; pensions, SI, 124. 14; 
schools, §10,412.61 ; county, $22,130.20. 

Population— white, 14,952; colored, 12,369 ; total. 27.321. 

CURRITUCK. 

Currituck County is bounded northward by Virginia, eastward by 
the Atlantic Ocean, and southward mainly by Albemarle Sound, and 
is traversed north and south by Currituck Sound, which occupies about 
one-third of its territory. Between this sound and the Atlantic Ocean 
lies a narrow strip of sandy soil, which in its origin is a sand-dune of 
the breadth of from 1 to 3 miles, rising in S'me of its higher hillocks 
to r; early one hundred feet, covered generally with a small growth of 
pine, oak, hickor}^ dogwood, etc. The body of the county, particularly 
the northern section, is quite level, and has a growth of oaks, hickory 
and short-leaf pine, and a clay loam soil, but becomes swampy near 
the streams. There is a narrow belt of oak and pine lands also in the 
middle section. The narrow southern promontory which projects into 
Albemarle Sound is for the most part sandy, and except along the 
margin of the sounds, where it is more or less swampy, has a growth 
of long-leaf pine. With the exception of the dune hil!s, nearly the 
whole county lies below the level of 10 feet above tide. 

The soils of this county are much better adapted to corn and rice 
than to cotton. The sta'k of the latter grows luxuriantly, but does not 
fruit well. Fishing is also naturally a leading industry, and the county 
has great facilities for truck f-irming, which is rapidly acquiring iini)or- 
tance. 

The most abundant facilities exist for shipping by the sounds and 
canals and by rail. 

The railroad from Norfolk to Edenton passes through Currituck 
County, and not only largely facilitates the general business of the 
county, but has proved an enormous stimulant to the business of truck 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 127 

farming by the dispatch with which products of all kinds are put fresh 
upon the markels of the North. The connection of the waters of Cur- 
rituck Sound with those of Chesapeake Bay, by which navigation for 
large steamers and sailing vessels is made practicable, has resuhed in 
the large development of interior navigation, by which, to all practical 
uses, the passage through the inlets and the dangers of the coast may 
be entirely avoided. Besides the abundance of fish in the sounds and 
in the waters of Currituck County, the sound abounds in wild fowl in 
incredible numbers. Canvass-back and other ducks, swan, geese, brant 
and other game fowl, during the winter season, in numbers equalled 
nowhere on our coast, except, perhaps, in the upper waters of the 
Chesapeake; and the food they obtain being abundant and conducive 
to high flavor, this section is much resorted to by gunners for market 
supplies, and also by wealthy amateurs, who lease large bodies of land 
and water, and maintain their preserves at a large annual outlay. 

Currituck County contains 107,647 acres of land, valued at $344,842. 

The number of domestic animals is — horses, 1,223; mules, 218; 
goats, 100; cattle, 3,379; hogs, 9,796; sheep, 2,079. 

Products of taxation — for State uses, $1,745 33; pensions, $288 62; 
schools, $1,586.61 ; county, $3,753.15. 

Population — white, 4,731: colored, 2,016; total, 6,747. 

DARE. 

The surface of Dare County is mainly water, the land, made up of a 
succession of long, narrow islands and peninsulas, being interpenetrated 
throughout by great bays, sounds and navigable bayous. The county 
is bounded eastward by the Atlantic Oc^an, westward by Alligator 
River and southward by Pamlico Sound. The larger portion, on the 
main-land, is a swamp, wdiich lies but a few feet above tide-level. 
Around the margins of this portion, next the sound, are narrow tracts 
of a few miles, in places, of drainable, cultivable land belonging to the 
general description of oak flats, having a gray-loam soil of a closy 
texture. It is also fringed by considerable bodies of marsh land next 
the sound, from which large crops of cranberries are gathered. Roanoke 
Island, a part of this county, lies within the upper portion of Pamlico 
Sound, and is a narrow tract, twelve miles in length and from two to 
three miles in width. The upper portion is for the most part sandv, 
with a short-leaf pine growth, intermixed with oaks, and the southern 
half is mainly swamp and marsh. The easternmost part of the countv, 
like the corresponding portion of Currituck, is a narrow fringe of sand 



128 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

reef, properl}'' a dune, which, as in the former case, was originally cov- 
ered with a forest of short-leaf pine, oaks, hickories, dogwood, etc., with 
abundance of grape-vines. These have for the most part disappeared, 
leaving a tract of sand waves, which are moving, under the impact of 
the trade winds, constantly toward the south-west into the sound, and 
sometimes rise to a height of more than 100 feet. There is very little 
tillable land in the count}'. 

This county was formed in 1870 from tlie county of Hyde, to which 
was added portions of Carteret and Tyrrell Counties, and derives its 
name from Virginia Dare, the first white child born on the continent. 
A very large portion of Dare County is swamp lands, and there are 
large bodies of it heavily timbered with cypress and juniper. On the 
side bounded by Pamlico Sound there are lands that will produce 
grasses, vegetables, corn, peas and potatoes. No portion of Eastern 
Carolina presents better facilities for cattle-raising, the feed being abund- 
ant and the climate mild. The chief industry is fishing, which is car- 
ried on to a great extent. Roanoke Island forms a part of this county. 
Upon this island is Manteo, the county seat, named in honor of the 
Indian chief Manteo, the first of his race in North Carolina to embrace 
the Christian religion. This island was the first place on the continent 
colonized by the English. 

In this county, on the bank lying immediately upon the sea coast, is 
the far-famed place of summer resort, known as Nags Head. This 
delightful report is noted for its health, the sea-bathing, and its fine 
drives. 

Dare County has 147,469 acres of land, valued at §173,105. 

Domestic animals are — horses, 525; mules, 17; goats, 75; cattle, 
1,981; hogs, 4,281; sheep, 1,433. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, §905.07; pensions, $142.81; 
schools, $1,416.18; county, $2,735.77. 

Population — white, 3,362; colored, 406; total, 3,768. 

DAVIDSON. 

This county lies midway of the breadth of the State and of the mid- 
land division, and on the northern border of the cotton belt. The aver- 
acre elevation is about 800 feet above sea-level — the northern end 1,000 
and the south-western 600 feet — but is interrupted by ranges of hills 
which are 900 feet in height and upward. The county is bounded on 
the west by the tortuous course of the Yadkin River, whose numerous 
tributaries drain almost its entire surface, one of which, Abbott's Creek, 



DESCRirTION OF COUNTIES. 129 

traverses its middle section from north to south, while a multitude of 
smaller streams flow in a generally south-west couise into the river. 
Both the river itself and these tributaries are generally bordered by 
tracts of bottom lands with a rich alluvial soil, covered by heavy f-rests 
of oak— largely white oak. There are considerable tracts of red-clay 
soil scattered through various portions of the county, which are covered 
with heav}' oak forests. The eastern and northern margins, which lie 
along the elevated divides and swells between the greater rivers, con- 
tain mixed oak and pine forests, and have a soil which is generally a 
gray and yellow gravelly or sandy loam. A clay subsoil is found 
throughout the county. The cotton product of Davidson County is 
small, and is limited to its southern end. Its wheat crop is the largest 
in the State. The southern half of the county lies within the great 
gold belt, and numerous mines of gold and c^uite a number of copper 
and silver have been opened. The slate-hills of the south end are 
notable for their deposits of gold gravel, or placers. 

The county early attracted attention through the great fertility of the 
soil, especially in the south-western part and that lying along the Yad- 
kin River and its lower tributaries, and it was in this section that was 
formed the famous Jersey Settlement, or a portion of it — a name given 
by immigrants chiefly from New Jersey and portions of Pennsylvania — 
retaining to this day its name, its fertility and the agricultural skill 
and industry of its early settlers. 

The county is traversed from north east to south-west by the North 
Carolina division of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and along 
the line are a number of thriving towns. 

Lexington, the county seat, has a population given by the census of 
1890 at 1,440. It contains several manufacturing establishments, and 
in addition acquires consequence from being in contiguit}'' to several 
mines of the precious metals. Thomasville, with a town population 
given at 490, and a township population of 3,057, has been noted for 
good schools, and is the seat of a branch of the Orphan Asylum. It has 
also several flourishing manufactories. 

Davidson Count}' contains 353,062 acres of land, valued at ^1,718,061, 
and 481 town lots, valued at $281,016. 

Domestic animals are— horses, 3,558; mules, 1,573; jacks and jen- 
nies, 19; goats, 30; cattle, 8,450; hogs, 18,651; sheep, 9,514. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $7,949.97; pensions, $1,168.11 ; 
schools, $8,779.01 ; county, $9,046.87. 

Population— white, 18,174; colored, 3,528 ; total, 21,702. 

9 



130 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



DAVIE. 

This is a small county lying in the angle between the Yadkin and 
the South Yadkin Rivers. In the southern half of this county the 
soils belong largely to the class of red clays, and are covered with 
heavy o;ik forests, while the middle and northern portions have a 
mixed growth of oaks and pines, and a light-gray, sandy and gravelly 
soil. This section of the county is mainly devoted to the culture of 
tobacco. The river hills, flanking both the Yadkin and its chief tribu- 
taries, are quite broken, and have a productive gravelly loam soil and 
forests predominantly of oak. The elevation of the surlace ranges from 
700 to 1,000 feet, the average being about 850 feet nbove sea-level. The 
culture of cotton has recently entered the southern and western town- 
ships. The grain crop is quite large, and latterly, also, tobacco has 
been cultivated to a considerable extent in tlie north and west sections, 
the soils of a large part of its territory being well adapted to the higher 
grades. There are several valuable iron ore deposits in the county. 

ALmg the Yadkin there is much fine bottom land, prolific in wheat, 
corn, and other small grains, forming an important proportion of (he 
beautiful "Valley of the Yadkin," one of the most beautiful and pro- 
ductive on this continent, of perpetual fertility, maintained by frequent 
but not destructive overflows, the usually placid current permitting the 
gradual subsidence of a rich sediment which adds to the soil, as do the 
waters of the Nile to those of Egypt. 

The county is now traversed by a railroad, at present in operation 
from Winston to Mocksville, and ultimately to be extended to some 
point on the Western North Carolina road. The northern and north- 
eastern sections are not far remote from the Winston and Wilkesboro 
Railroad; and the two lines give reasonably ample facilities for travel 
and transportation. 

Mocksville is the county seat, and, including the township, contains 
2,016 inhabitants. 

Davie County contains 161,1(57 acr s of land, valued at $883,911, and 
197 town lots, valued at $71,175. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,637: mules, 1,025; jacks 
and jennies, 5 ; goats, 2 ; cattle, 3,423 ; hogs, 7,678 ; sheep, 1,909. 

Product of taxation — for State, $4,084.27 ; pensions, §613 42; schools, 
$4,368.53 ; county, §5,529.03. 

Population— white, 8.760: colored, 2.S52 ; total 11,621. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 131 



DUPLIN 



Adjoins Lenoir and Sampson, and, like them, has considerable varia- 
tion of soil and surface. The northern portion consists of level piny 
uplands, penetrated with frequent streams margined with swamps. It 
is drained by North-east Cape Fear River, which flows southward 
through its middle section, and both this and the numerous tributaries 
are bordered by belts of alluvial and often swampy lands. Near its 
northern and eastern borders are two small pocosons, and within its 
southern section lies one-half of the great Angola Bay pocoson, an 
almost impenetrable jungle of the average character of pocoson lands, 
with fringes of rich swamp lands on the streams that issue from it. 
This pocoson is flanked on the westward toward the North-east Cape 
Fear River by a fringe of fertile white-oak flats and semi-swamp lands. 
Between the tributaries of the river, on the divides, are several tracts of 
sandy pine hills, which are very unproductive. The cotton lands, 
which are of limited extent, are the level piny woods of the usual 
description; but corn is a more valuable crop, and the product of pota- 
toes and rice is of considerable importance. The county has still val- 
uable resources in timber and turpentine lands. Marl (blue and white) 
is abundant, though but little used. 

The county is traversed by the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, 
and, with its water-ways, has convenient access to marke's. 

Kenansville, the county seat, has a population of 290; Magnolia, 
with a population of 460; Faison's, of 256, and Warsaw, of 400, are 
small towns lying on the W^ilmington and Weldon Railroad. From 
Warsaw a railroad of 12 miles extends to Clinton, in Sampson County. 

Duplin County has 436,472 acres of land, valued at $062,787, and 
402 town lots, valued at $109,286. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,505; mules, 688; jacks and 
jennies, 2; goats, 2,193; cattle, 8,759; hogs, 28,474; sheep, 5,849. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $1,641.06; pensions, $68614; 
schools, S6,055.44; county, $5,475.68. 

Population -white, 11,600; colored, 7,090; total, 18,690. 

DURHAM. 

This county formed the eastern part of the county of Orange, and 
by taking part of the north-western corner of Wake the present county 
was formed. This was made necessary by the rapid growth of the town 



132 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of Durham and the creation of pecuhar interests to be best guarded 
and advanced by an administration of county affairs more direct'y 
addressed to those interests. 

A large portion of the territory of this county lies in that sandstoue 
belt or old sea-basin extending across the Slate from north-east to south- 
west, and which in this county assumes its greatest breadth. The north- 
ern part of the county is of a different geological period, with a stiffer 
soil. In the north eastern part the parent streams of the Neuse River 
unite — the Eno, Flat and Little Rivers — and their borders are all mar- 
gined with broad rich bottom lands, an extent of fertile low grounds 
rarely found to such extent in the interior of the State, and productive 
in cotton, corn, wheat and other grains. In the hill country along their 
valleys, and in the gray lands towards the county of Granville, are 
found the best tobacco lands, producing that fine quality which has 
added so much to the fame of the State and the magnitude of the 
Durham tobacco market. The lands not in cultivation are covered 
w'ith oak, hickory, short-leaf pine and other woods, but the timber is 
nowhere large except in the still uncleaned bottoms, where the trees 
attain a magnitude scarcely surpassed anywhere in the State. 

The staple crops of the county are cotton of fine quality, tobacco of 
the highest grade, wheat, corn, oats, &c. The lands on the river bot- 
toms referred to, and in the valleys of New Hope Creek and its tribu- 
taries, produce large crops of the grains of all kinds, and also good 
crops of cotton, but are not adapted to fine tobacco. 

Durham, the county seat, is almost the sole instance in this State of 
a town springing from a cross-road station to the importance of a city, 
all in less than the lapse of a generation. It was a petty village in 
1870. It is now known all over the world. It is bisected by the North 
Carolina Railroad, and is the terminus of the Lynchburg and Durham, 
and of roads with through connections from Durham to Oxford and to 
Henderson. It is the seat of the largest smoking tobacco factory in the 
world — the original Black well and Carr; of the largest cigarette fac- 
tory in the world — Dukes and son ; of numerous other smoking tobacco 
factories; of a snuff factory; of sales warehouses, selling from 15,000,000 
to 18,000,000 pounds of leaf a year, of a business which extends not 
only over the United States but over the Western Hemisphere, over the 
whole world; of a cotton manufactory; of a fertilizer factory; of other 
important industries; and it is also the seat of Trinity College, the chief 
Methodist College of the State; numerous churches, graded and other 
schools for both races; has water- works, gas and electric lighting and 
telephone exchange, ancl will soon resume the use of its street raihvay 



DKSCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 133 

system, for some time suspended; in addition to which it has all the 
advantages derived from the use of a belt line of railroad. 

Durham County contains 1G8,0S5 acres of land, valued at $1,459,054, 
and 665 town lots, valued at $1,332,055. 

Proceeds of taxation— for State us^s, $14,600.03; pensions, $1,815.68; 
schools, $13,560.59; county, $23,804.36. 

Population— white, 10,712: colored, 7,329 ; total, 18,041. 

EDGECOMBE. 

Edgecombe is a typical county of the long-leaf pine region. It is 
traversed through its middle portion by the Tar River, and is drained 
by its numerous tributaries. The soils are characteristically gray sandy 
loams, with a yellow to brown .subsoil, and belong to the region of level 
piny uplands. Along the borders of the various streams are frequent 
and extensive tracts of alluvial lands, and on some of them occur 
cypress and gum swamps. This is one of the leading cotton counties 
of the State. It fctands second among the counties of the State in its 
product of cotton, and its corn crop is als3 among the largest. The 
long-leaf pines, which were once found abundant over the whole sur- 
face of this county (and region), have been thinned until they are a 
subordinate element, so that the renraining forests are mainly of short- 
leaf pine and oak. 

Both commercial fertilizers and the native marls have been more 
largely used than elsewhere in the State, and, in connection with com- 
post, most effectively; so that Edgecombe has long been foremost in 
this special agriculture of the east. 

Edgecombe was formed from Craven, in 1733, by Governor Burring- 
ton and his Council, and this action was confirmed by the Legislature 
which met in Edenton in 1741. During the period of the Revolution 
the county of Edgecombe was foremost in resisting the exactions of the 
mother country. 

The soil of the county has every variety, from the black peaty soil 
to the stiff clay. The predominating soil is a light friable loam, being 
about four inches in depth, shading off in most places to a subsoil of 
yellow sand. When fresh, it is of a darkish color, wearing white by 
use when not well manured and properly cultivated. This soil is easy 
to till at all seasons of the year. 

The variety, excellence and abundance of the products indicate alike 
the character of the soil and the intelligence and industry of the farm- 
ers. Those at an early period assisted or directed nature in the use of 



134 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

her forces, and by the skilful application of fertilizers, and by the care- 
ful husbanding and skilful manipulation of all domestic stores of fer- 
tility, made Edgecombe conspicuous as one of the best and most profit- 
ably cultivated counties in the State. It became in time one of the 
leading cotton counties — in 1880 ranking next to "Wake — and this 
relation it still holds. Its production of corn is also large, enough so 
to give it a leading importance as a corn-producing count}'. These 
constitute the most valuable field crops, but wheat, oats, rice, potatoes, 
peas, etc., are cultivated largely and successfully. Truck farming is 
enlisting enterprise and capital, and is remunerative. Dair}' farming 
is pursued to considerable extent, with satisfactory results. Tobacco is 
of comparatively recent culture as a market crop. The census returns 
for 1880 gave a crop of only 550 pounds; those for ISOO placed the crop 
of the preceding year at 51,420 pounds. The effect of this increase in 
this and adjacent counties is to transfer to this section much of the 
interest once centered on the counties in the Middle Section, and to 
have necessitated the erection of sales warehouses, tobacco factories 
and all the agencies needed for the handling of the annually increas- 
ing crops. 

A recent estimate (1891) says: "There were no less than 150,000 acres 
in cultivation in Edgecombe County during the past year. It is esti- 
mated that 50,000 acres in cotton yielded upward of 33,000 bales; that 
1,200 acres in tobacco yielded 850,000 pounds; that 8,000 acres of pea- 
nuts produced 500,000 bushels; that 25,000 acres in corn, peas, etc., 
produced enough to supply the county for two years." 

Tarboro, the county seat, is situated at the head of navigation on Tar 
Kiver, and, with four railroad outlets, has commercial advantages sur- 
passed by few towns in the State. It has a population of 1,924, or, 
including Princeville and Tarboro township, of 4,435. 

Rocky Mount, partly in Edgecombe and partly in Nash, and bisected 
by the line of the Wilmington andiWeldon Railroad, has a population 
of 816. The branch road for Tarboro begins at this point. In the 
vicinity, at the Falls of Tar River, are the Battle Cotton Mills, the oldest 
in North Carolina. 

Edgecombe County has 309,342 acres of land, valued at $2,217,467; 
and 590 town lots, valued at $633,839. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,541; mules, 2,465; jacks 
and jennies, 3; cattle, 4,781 ; hogs, 12,762; sheep, 2,176; goatS; 373. 

Product of taxation— for State use, $11,585.99; pensions, $1,446.62; 
schools, $13,266.24; county, $13,301.94. 

Population— white, 8,513; colored, 15,600; total, 24,113. 




TEOSINTE AND GUERNSEY CATTLE. 



DESCKIPTION OF COUNTIES. 135 



FORSYTH. 

Forsyth County lies weat of Guilford, and is bounded on the west by 
ihe Yadkin Kiver. Through its middle portion is a broad swell, or 
plateau, the divide between the waters of the Yadkin and Dan, with 
an elevation of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet, and having forests of oak, dog- 
wood, sourwood, pine, etc. Its soils are light gray loams. The tribu- 
taries of the Yadkin, which drain the south-western section, abound in 
bottom lands of great fertility, and have heavy oak forests, interspersed 
with hickory, walnut, poplar, etc., while the middle, northern and east- 
ern sections are characterized largely by gray sandy loam soils, with 
forests of oak and pine. This county shows an increasing product of 
the better and medium grades of tobacco. 

Forsyth County was formerly included in the county of Rowan, which, 
in colonial days, comprised the extensive possessions of Lord Granville, 
grandson of Sir George Caiteret, one of the eight original Proprietors 
of North Carolina. Seven- eighths of this Proprietary were ceded back 
to the Crown in 1729, in consideration of the payment of £2,500 to each 
of the Proprietors. Since the war of Independence, this tract has been 
divided and subdivided into various counties. Forsyth was formed 
from Stokes County in 1848, and named after Col. Benjamin Forsyth, 
who served in the Revolution and was killed in a skirmish in Canada 
in 1814. 

This county is conspicuous for containing within its limits the tract 
of land known as " Wachovia," granted to the Unitas Fratrum, or United 
Brethren of the Moravian Church, by Lord Granville, August 7, 1753, 
and thus named because of the supposed resemblance to a valle\' of 
that name in Austria, in the possession of Count Zinzendorf, the great 
patron of the Brotherhood. In 1849 fifty-one acres of the Wachovia 
tract were sold to the newly formed county for $5 per acre, upon which 
the plan for the county town was laid out and the court-house and jail 
erected, under the supervision of the late Francis Fries. 

Tobacco is the staple produce of agriculture, as well as manufacture. 
Very little was grown, however, prior to 1870, and none at all earlier 
than 185S, beyond a few small patches for home consumption. In 1875 
the yield had reached 1,500,000 pounds, and to-day borders closely ou 
4,607,325 (census returns of 1890). Wheat grows finely; so do corn and 
oats and other grains, and also the grasses. Fruits, vegetables and 
melons grow in the greatest profusion, and of almost every variety. 
The dried fruits of this section of the State enjoy the reputation of the 



136 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

highest quotations in the New York market. Grapes thrive, and the 
early settlers of the county, the Moravians, made a record on their 
books that in one year they had made nine hogsheads of wine from the 
wild native grape. 

A permanent influence was exerted upon the character of Salem, and 
also of its sister town, Winston, by the early custom of requiring each 
man to learn and pursue some trade or occupation as a means of liveli- 
hood, and this has begotten and perpetuated those habits of industry', 
thrift and skill which have made that people so self-reliant and the 
founders of their own fortunes. It adapted them also to those mechan- 
ical industries which they have pursued with so much skill and success. 

In industrial fortune Salem and Winston are closely joined, and are 
so intimately associated that one cannot be named without the other. 
The former is still the principal seat of the Moravian Church in this 
State; and it is here that the famous Female Academy, now one hun- 
dred 3'ears old, has flourished and diffused its usefulness through all 
the States of the South and West. In Salem are the cotton and woolen 
mills of F. ct H. Fries, iron works and pottery, and at Waughtown are 
the wagon works of the Nissens, these establishments the largest of 
their kind in the South. 

Winston, the county seat, a town separated only from Salem by the 
width of a street, has grown with great rapidity and to great wealth 
through its adaptation to the tobacco manufacture and to the sagacity 
of its people in applying their advantages. Without going into details, 
it will be enough to say that in the 29 factories of plug tobacco there 
was manufactured product amounting in value to $3,600,000, and in 
four warehouses was sold leaf tobacco to the amount of 16,086,373 
pounds, of the value of $1,612,669.75. Of manufactured tobacco there 
was sold the value of $11,000,000, and the internal revenue tax paid 
was $660,005.52. 

The population of Winston is, including Salem, 11,300, or Winston 
8,018; Salem, 1,711. The local census makes a much larger claim, 
and, no doubt, justly. Kernersville has a population of 900. 

Winston is well supplied with railroads, and has become an impor- 
tant railroad centre. The north-western division of the North Carolina 
Railroad, beginning at Greensboro, had for a long time its terminus 
here, but, by the addition of the road to Wilkesboro, has been extended 
up the valley of the Yadkin a distance of 75 miles. Winston is also 
the southern terminus of the Roanoke and Southern, a line of 125 
miles in length. Tiiis road has become the properly of the Norfolk 
and Southern. A road has also been built from Winston to Mocksville, 
in Davie County. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 137 

Forsyth County contains 237,682 acres of land, valued at $1,264,388, 
and 2,083 town lots, valued at $1,725,028. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 2,602; mules, 1,225; jacks 
and jennies, 16; goats, 39; cattle, 5,671 ; hogs, 9,353; sheep, 1,991. 

Product of taxation— for State uses, $18,238.83; pensions, $2,192.27 ; 
schools, $19,486.14; county, $17,486.60. 

Population— white, 19,433; colored, 9,001 ; total, 28,434. 

FRANKLIN. 

The western portion of this county is a rolling hilly country, with 
clay a predominant in the soil, and bearing a natural growth of oak, 
hickory and other hard woods, and, when cultivated, producing the 
cereal-', cotton and tobacco. The eastern, and especially the south- 
eastern section, contain a considerable proportion of long-leaf pine as 
a constituent of the forests. This county is drained by Tar River and 
its tributaries. The middle portion belongs to the region of oak and 
pine gravelly and sand^^ hills, and the western end rises into the oak 
uplands. The large cotton product of this county is of recent date, but 
here and in the adjoining counties it has greatly increased in the last 
dozen years. The western half is largely devoted to the cullure of 
tobacco. 

By a division of old "Bute," one of the Colonial counties, in the 
year 1779, Franklin and Warren were established. The name, " Bute," 
was cast aside on account of Earl Bute's hostility to the cause of liberty, 
and the names, Franklin and Warren, were given to the divided ter- 
ritory in honor of the distinguished philosopher and statesman, Dr. 
Benjamin Franklin, and Dr. Joseph Warren, the patriot-hero, who fell 
at Bunker Hill. 

The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad passes for fourteen miles through 
this county, and in addition to the facilities afforded by it, a road has 
been constructed from Franklinton, on the Raleigh and Gaston road, to 
Louisburg, the county seat, a distance of 12 miles. 

The county singularly abounds in minerals, considering its close 
proximity to the tertiary belt. Asbestos and mica of good quality are 
found, and granite of fine quality, susceptible of high polish, is found 
abundantly in some localities. But the most remarkable of all the 
discoveries is that of gold. In the north-eastern portion of the county, 
near where it corners with Warren, Nash and Halifax, is situated the 
celebrated Portis gold mine, which received its name from its original 
owner, John Portis, in the mud daubing of whose log cabin the shining 



138 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

particles were first discovered. It has been successfully worked for 
nearly three quarters of a century, more than a million of dollars 
having been taken from it. Most of this large amount was washed 
from the top soil and gravel beds just underneath at a small cost. 
Stamp mills and other machinery for crushing the inexhaustible beds 
of cjuartz have been but recently introduced. This quartz, when 
crushed and assayed, has been found to carry from $o to $12 worth of 
gold to the Ion. And several other discoveries of nearly equal value 
have been made in the county. 

As before stated, cotton and tobacco are the chief crops raised for 
market. 

The lowlands upon the river and smaller streams are well adapted 
to the production of corn, small grain, the grasses, and rice, only 
requiring proper drainage and cultivation to make bountiful crops, one 
hundred bushels of corn having been raised to the acre. 

The uplands are of a variety of soils, in the lower part of the county 
light sandy, with clay subsoil ; in the middle and upper portions granite, 
mainly with red and yellow clay subsoil. 

Large areas of these uplands, well adapted to the growth of corn, 
cotton, tobacco, wheat, rye, oats, peas, beans, sweet and Irish potatoes, 
clover and grass, produce, with proper cultivation and manuring, most 
satisfactory yields. 

Louisburg, the county seat, has a population of 667. Franklinton, 
on the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, has 583. 

Franklin County has 292,264 acres of land, valued at $1,779,065; 
and 369 town lots, valued at $270,986. 

Of domestic animals it has — horses, 1,753; mules, 1,069; jacks and 
jennies, 3; goats, 225; cattle, 6,601; hogs, 11,884; sheep, 3,486. 

Product of taxes — for State uses, $7,640.08; pensions, $1,066.06; 
schools, $9,485.30 ; county, $10,338.81. 

Population— white, 10,755; colored, 10,335; total, 21,090. 

GASTON. 

Gaston, a small county, lies on the southern border of the Stute, and 
is bounded eastward by the Catawba River, whose tributaries drain its 
entire surface. In the southern section are several small mountain 
chains and spurs, the highest of which, Kings Mountain, reaches an 
altitude of nearly 1,700 feet above sea-level. Most of the county is 
quite broken, and partakes of the character of the Piedmont division. 
It is characterized by mixed forests of oak and pine, and by gray and 



DESCRirTION OF COUNTIES. 139 

yellow gravelly soils of moderate fertility, with occasional areas of red- 
clay soils. In the north-western section are the largest tracts of oak 
and hickory forests, with their corresponding red-clay soils. 

There are many valuable beds of iron ore in the county, and the 
manufactures of cotton, and formerly of iron, have attained consider- 
able importance. It is one of the oldest iron manufacturing regions of 
the South, some of its furnaces dating back nearly one hundred years. 
In water-power it has superior advantages. It has also several noted 
gold mines. The waters of the Catawba River provide great water- 
power, long utilized for manufacturing purposes; and, lying within the 
cotton belt, a stimulus has been given to the manufacture of cotton 
goods to such extent as to have created independence of the rude powers 
of nature. Numerous factories, operated by steam, have been erected 
at Mount Holly, Gastonia, Stanley Creek and other points. 

Within this county rises the eminence, seen far and wide, of Kings 
Mountain, the scene of one of the most remarkable and, in its conse- 
quences, one of the most decisive battles of the Revolutionary war. 

The county is well supplied with railroad facilities. The Carolina 
Central passes through it from south-east to north-west, the Chester and 
Lenoir Narrow Gauge from noith to south, and the Charlotte and 
Atlanta Air-Line through the center in an undulating line from east 
to west. This has given every section access to market, and has stimu- 
lated industrial activity in marked degree, resulting in the building 
and prosperity of a number of towns and villages. Among these are 
Dallas, the county seat, with a population of 445; Gastonia, a thriving 
manufacturing town on the Air-Line road, with a population of 1,050; 
Mount Holly, 475; Lowell, a manufacturing village, with about the 
same number. 

The staple crops of the county are co'.ton, wheat and corn; and 
tobacco has been successfully tested as a profitable addition. Fruits, 
and especially the grape, succeed well. 

Gaston County has 226,519 acres of land, valued at Sl,482,963; and 
539 town lots, valued at $1G0,535. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,104: mules, 1,185; jacks and 
jennies, 11; goats, 42; cattle, 5,104; hogs, 8,204; sheep, 3,800. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $7,242.36; pensions, $1,028.64; 
schools, $7,504.57; county, $8,298.31. 

Population — white, 12,927: colored, 4,837; total, 17,764. 



140 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



GATES. 

Gates County lies between the Chowan River and the Dismal Swamp, 
of which it includes a considerable section. The body of the county 
consists of level piny uplands, with a sandy loam soil. It has a narrow 
strip of very sandy long-leaf pine land near the Chowan River, and 
also in the south-eastern corner of the county. Along the Chowan 
River and its tributaries are tracts of cypress swamp from one to two 
and three miles wide. Near the smaller streams are narrow tracts of 
pine and oak flats, having a gray-clay loam soil. Marl is found in the 
banks of the Chowan River and in the southern end of the county. 

The Blackwater River (lower down assuming the name of Chowan), 
flowing along the western border, a deep, tortuous but navigable stream, 
used by steamboats of considerable size as high up as Franklin, Va., 
has added greatly to the business, convenience and profit of tie inhab- 
itants, but the construction of a railroad across the county, forming 
other and speediei' connections, has diminished its importance. 

The products of the county are those of the section — cotton, corn, 
wheat, peas, potatoes, etc. ; and an increased inducement to truck farm- 
ing tends to give new character to the agriculture of the county. 

There is large attention given to timber, lumber, shingles and staves. 

Gatesville, the county seat, is a village of 232 inhabitants. 

Gates County contains 193,434 acres of land, valued at SG14,121 ; and 
45 town lots, valued at S29,290. 

Of domestic animals there are— horses, 1,297; mules, 521; jacks and 
jennies, 5; goats, 839; cattle, 5,501; hogs, 12,5S2; sheep, 2,270. 

Product of taxation — for State use, §2,818.33 ; pensions, ^389 26; 
schools, $4,053.81 ; county, $3,323.59. 

Population — white, 5,539; colored, 4,713 ; total, 10,252. 

GRAHAM. 

Graham County, lying south of the Tennessee River, is bounded on 
the west by the Smoky Mountains, which separate it from the State of 
Tennessee. The liver of the same name separates it from the county 
of Swain, the Long Ridge from tlie county of Cherokee, and a high 
and almost precipitous line of mountains from the county of Macon. 
It is largely isolated on account of difficulty of access, and therefore 
retains, in large degree, its primeval wildness. The surface in the inte- 
rior of the countv is intersected with numerous streams, tendinjr to a 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 141 

union with the Cheoah River; and ihe united waters, a large, bold 
stream, flow into the Tennessee. Along tliese w'aters are stretches of 
fertile valley, and these constitute at present almost all the land reduced 
to cultivation. The remainder of the county is still clothed with forest 
composed of all the varieties of trees found in the mountains, and of 
the greatest size. This forest is now invaded by timber cutters from 
the North-western States, who avail themselves of freshets to float their 
logs down the smaller streams into the Cheoah, thence into the Ten- 
nessee, down which they float through the mountain rapids, until in 
calmer waters below they are caught and detained in booms. 

Agricultural industry is limited chiefly to domestic uses, difficult 
access to market giving little reward to industry. The soil everywhere 
is fertile, as indicated by the size of the trees and density of the for- 
ests. The chief remunerative pursuit of the inhabitants is in the rear- 
ing of cattle on the native ranges, from which they are driven in the 
fall, to be transported now by railroad to distant markets. 

Robbinsville, a small village, is the county seat. 

Graham County has 307,635 acres of land, valued at ^452,724; and 
29 town lots, valued at ^4,950. 

Of domestic animals there are 300 horses, 130 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 3,825 cattle, 3,705 hogs, 2,729 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use?, $1,500.07; pensions, 1213.07; 
schools, 12,705.94 : county, $2,801.05. 

Population — white, 3,137; colored, 137: Indians, 101; total, 3,435. 

GRANVILLE. 

Granville County lies on the Virginia border, and is drained partly 
toward the north by the tributaries of the Roanoke and partly (in its 
middle region) by the Tar, and in its southern portions by the Neuse. 
In its central and higher portions, where it is 500 feet above tide, it is 
comparatively level and rolling, and has for the most part a gray 
gravelly loam soil, with here and there small tracts of red clay. Among 
the most productive soils is a level body of oak and hickory land in 
the northern section, with a dark gravelly loam soil. Smaller tracts of 
similar character occur near the middle, and also on the southern bor- 
der. The southern portion of the county, along the divide between the 
waters of the Tar and Neuse Rivers, is another comparatively level 
bench of land, belonging mainly to the class of gray sandy loams, 
derived in large part from the underlying Triassic rocks (red sandstone). 



142 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

These alternate wiih gray gravelly loams. The forests are of oaks, 
hickory and dogwood, intermingled with short-leaf pine. 

The principal agricultural product of this county is the gold-leaf 
tobacco. The gray and light-colored granite soils of the eastern, mid- 
dle and western sections, as well as the last-named (Triassic) soils, are 
noted for the high grade of tobacco which they produce. This is also 
a large grain-growing county, its aggregate reaching nearly 750,000 
bushels. Granville has long been conspicuous for its leadership in 
tobacco culture, and, after the discovery of the process of curing the 
" bright leaf," for a long time had no equal in its success in the perfec- 
tion of that process, the result being a substance of unrivalled beauty 
and surpassing value. The high prices habitually received greatly 
advanced the value of lands in some sections, and purchasers of such 
qualities of land were enabled to obtain full title out of the proceeds 
of the sale of a single crop. The estimates (for they are, at best, only 
estimates) of the census investigation of 1890 are misleading, and only 
approximate the truth in giving the crop of 1889 at 4,170,071 pounds. 
In another chapter of this book, statements obtained from o'her sources 
will be made to demonstrate the existence of a much larger crop for 
Granville, as well as for the State of North Carolina. Besides tobacco, 
Granville produces some cotton, wheat, corn and other grains and fruits. 
[];_ Valuable copper ores are found in the northern part of the county, 
and recently exceedingly valuable iron ores have been discovered in 
the .south-eastern section. These will be noticed more fully in the 
chapter on ores and minerals. 

"' Oxford, the county seat, has a population, by the last census, of 2,097. 
It is the center of an active tobacco business, both in manufacture and 
sale, the warehouses, of which there are several, handling yearly from 
eight to ten million pounds. Here is the Orphan Asylum, supported 
jointly by the Masonic Fraternity of North Carolina and by the State ; 
the Baptist Female College, and Horner's Classical and Military School. 
Oxford is connected with the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad at Hender- 
son, and with Richmond, Va., by a road running from that city via 
Keysville, Va., to Durham. 

Granville County contains 326,108 acres of land, valued at SI, 770,907 ; 
and 526 town lots, valued at $925,712. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 2,675; mules, 1,218; jacks 
and jennies, 10; goats, 204: cattle, 5,603; hogs, 11,305; sheep, 3,510. 

Productof taxation— for State, $10,221 ; pension?, ^1,419.42 ; schools, 
$11,023.03; county, $15,537.88. 

Population— white, 12.122: colored, 12,362; total, 24,484. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 143 



GREENE. 



The small county of Greene, adjoining Pitt on the south, and drained 
by the Contentnea (which crosses it through the middle) and its numer- 
ous tributaries, has the same general features, both as to its natural 
characteristics and as to the development of its agriculture, as Edge- 
combe Count}', but there are considerable areas of sandy pine lands and 
pine flats in the eastern angle and in the southern section. Its streams 
are also, for the most part, bordered by narrow fringes of alluvial land 
and of gum and cypress swamps. It has also along the courses of some 
of its tributaries considerable tracts of semi-swamp land, characterized 
by a dark-gray loam of great fertility, notably Lousin Swamp, near the 
southern border. Like the preceding counties, Greene finds marl and 
compost essential to successful cotton farming. There are still consid- 
erable areas of pine and cypress timber in the county. 

Much of the land of Greene is suitable to cotton, the production of 
which is between 8,000 and 10,000 bales per annum. It is also a pro- 
ductive corn county, as would be indicated by the character of its best 
lands, reclaimed from swamps. Peas, potatoes, rice and other grains 
constitute the chief crops. Within a brief period tobacco has been 
found worthy of cultivation, soil and climate both inviting to ihe pro- 
duction of the highest grades. The Census Report gives the crop of 
1889 at 6,650 pounds, doubtless below the truth, but a large gain over 
the previous decennial report, which was only 706 pounds. 

Greene County has 157,465 acres of land, valued at ^1,055,541 ; and 
163 town lots, valued at $81,107. 

Of domestic animals there are— h'^rsrs, 839; mules, 974; goats, 169; 
cattle, 1,179; hogs, 8,768; sheep, 265. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $4,192.51; pensions, $599.86; 
schools, $4,524.47; county, $8,716.19. 

Population— white, 5,281; colored, 4,758; total, 10,039. 

GUILFORD. 

Guilford County lies in the middle of the midland plateau, and near 
its highest part, on the water-shed between the Cape Fear and Dan 
Rivers, which crosses its territory nearly midway in a west and east 
direction at an average elevation of between 800 and ],000 feet above 
tide. In its physical characteristics and its agricultural features, (his 
county may be taken as a typical average of this region. This elevated 



144 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

swell of land between the water-courses, with its projections at right 
angles between the main tributaries of the above mentioned rivers, is 
characterized by quite a uniform forest growth and soil, both of which 
may be taken as representative of these features for the major part of 
the midland division. Its forests consist mainly of oaks of various 
species and hickory, with a subordinate growth of short-leaf pine scat- 
tered quite uniformly over most of its area. Along its river and creek 
bottoms, which are in many parts of the county extensive, and in the 
south-eastern section of the county, even on the uplands, are heavy 
forests of oak, intermingled with hickory, walnut, poplar, maple, etc. 
These lands have generally a reddish clay loam soil. The soil of the 
higher and broad-backed ridges and swells is quite uniformly a yel- 
lowish sandy and gravelly loam, underlaid by a yellow and red clay 
subsoil. The cotton zone barely touches the southern border, the chief 
crops of the county consisting of grains and tobacco, grown mostly in 
the northern half of the county. Gold, copper and iron are found in 
many places, and have been mined on a considerable scale. 

The county of Guilford was formed in 1770 from Rowan and Orange 
Counties, and w-as named in honor of Lord Xorth, who was Earl of 
Guilford. In ISOS the county seat was removed from Martinsville to 
Greensboro (named in honor of General Greene), five miles south-east 
of the site of the battle-ground. This battle-ground was the site of the 
memorable "battle of Guilford Court House," fought on the loth of 
March, 1781, between the American forces under Gen. Nathaniel Greene, 
and those of the British under Lord Cornwallis, the latter nominally 
victorious, but in effect defeated, soon abandoning the field and rapidly 
retreating to Wilmington, thence to Yorktown, Xa., where they event- 
ually surrendered to General Washington, thus closing the war and 
securing American Independence. A monument recently erected on 
the battle-ground commemorates the real victory. 

In addition to cotton and tobacco, there are produced corn, wheat, 
oats, rye, and clover and grass,, and fruits of all kinds congenial to 
the climate. Apples, peaches, pears, quinces, grapes, plums, apricots, 
nectarines, cherries, strawberries and melons grow in richness and per- 
fection unsurpassed in any latitude outside the tropics. The dried and 
green fruit industry is very remunerative. Not less than 1,115,000 
pounds of dried fruiis are annually shipped from this county. 

The peculiar adaptation of the sail and climate to the cultivation 
and perfection of fruits has stimulated the special industry of the nur- 
sery business; and the large nurseries near Greensboro, chiefly the 
Pomona Nurseries, grow more fruit and vines than any other county 



DESCRIPTION OF COINTIES. 145 

in the South, and their sales extend all over the State and all over the 
South and West. Tobacco, within the past ten years, has doubled in 
quantity and in quality. Even the unsatisfactory estimate shows the 
comparison between 1879 and 1889 to be 422,716 pounds for the former 
and 918,728 pounds for the latter, resulting in the creation of an impor- 
tant sales market and well established factories in Greensboro. 

Manufacturing establishments are diffused throughout the county. 
Among tliese are two cotton factories at Greensboro, one at High Point 
and one at Gibson ville; a hosiery factory at Greensboro, two foundrys, 
a stave factory, spoke and handle factory, and various other establish- 
ments. In addition to these is the steel and iron works for the manu- 
facture of pig-iron, the onl}^ one now in the State, which will soon be 
in operation. Reference to this will be made subsequently. There are 
numerous merchant mills in the county. 

Railroad facilities are numerous, and, passing through Greensboro, 
constitute it an important railroad centre. The Cape Fear and Yad- 
kin ^^alley Railroad, passing from tide-water to the mountains, runs 
through the county from south-east to north-west, and goes through 
eight townships. The North Carolina Railroad, passing from the sea- 
board to the Tennessee line, runs through the county from east to w'est, 
and through seven townships. The Richmond and Danville comes in 
from the north, runs to Greensboro, and passes through three town- 
ships. The North-western North Carolina Railroad starts at Green.sboro 
and runs west through three townships. 

Greensboro, the county seat, situated, as above stated, at the focal 
point of several railroads, has become of great importance. Its popu- 
lation is upwards of 6,500 since Morehead has been added to the wards 
north of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. It has large hotels, 
churches, a female college, a colored college, a female industrial school 
nearly completed, waterw^orks, gas and electric lighting, telephones, etc. 

High Point, fifteen miles west of Greensboro, has a population, 
including High Point township, of 3,481, and Jamestown and Oak 
Ridge are smaller villages. 

Guilford County has 397,905 acres of land, valued at $2,359,146; and 
1,302 town lots, valued at $1,241,939. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 3,486 ; mules, 1,483 ; jacks 
and jennies, 25; goats, 50; cattle, 10,752 ; hogs, 12,739; sheep, 6,741. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $15,163.78; pensions, $1,967.39; 
schools, $17,797.48; county, $14,539.65. 

Population— white, 19,820; colored, 8,232; total, 28,052. 

10 



146 HAXD-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



HALIFAX. 



Halifax County lies between the Roanoke River on the noith, and 
Fishing Creek, one of the confluents of the Tar River, on the south. 
The eastern and larger part of this count}' belongs to the normal type 
of upland piny woods; the western third to the oak uplands. Long- 
leaf and short-leaf pines are commonl}' mingled with a subordinate 
growth of oaks, hickor}', dogwood, etc. The surface is generally level, 
or a little rolling, with small, olten abrupt, hills and ravines near the 
streams. The soil is a gray sandy loam, with a yellow to brown sub- 
soil. The creeks and larger streams nearly ail fl.)W southward into the 
Tar River, the water-shed, according to a curious topograpliical law 
previously referred to, lying quite close to the south bank of the Roan- 
oke. The western section belongs in large part to the oak uplands 
region, having its characteristic gray, yellow and reddish clay loam and 
sandy loam soils and rolling surface, and predominant oak forests, with 
an intermixture of short-leaf pine. The crops of this section are largh- 
grains (corn, wheat, etc.) and tobacco. The bulk of the cotton product 
is made in the eastern section. The streams in the eastern section have 
often narrow swampy tracts of gum and cypress along their margins, 
but there are extensive alluvial areas or bo toms on the larger rivers, 
especially the Roanoke, whose bottoms are of unsurj)as&ed fertility. In 
the great bend of Scothmd Neck are some of the finest cotton lands of 
the State. Marl is abundant in the middle and eastern sections. Hali- 
fax is one of the most prosperous cotton counties, and produces very 
large crops of grains besides, chiefly of corn. 

Like others of the eastern counties, Halifax has largely increased the 
culture of tobacco, the qualit}' being of the best. Li LS79 the census 
return gave the production at 8,427 pounds; in 18S9 at 00,714 pounds 

The work of the Roanoke Navigation Company, embiaced chiefly in 
a canal from Gaston to Weldon, overcomiuij the succession of rapids 
between those points from navigable water above to steamboat naviga- 
tion below, is now owned by a comjKiny which has opened the canal 
so as to avail itself of water-power for manufacturing purposes, event- 
ually to obtain such power as will be unequaltd in the United States. 

The county of Halifax has every needed facility attained by railroads, 
the first railroads in North Carolina extending from points in this county 
to the then chief towns in this State and the leading commercial towns 
in Virginia. The Raleigh and Gaston road was begun in lb3(3, and 
completed to Raleigh, and also connected, by a road to Belfield, Va., 
with the line built in 1833 from IMakely, in Northampton County, to 
Petersburg, A'a.; and the Wilmington and Weldon road, also begun in 
1836, and completed to Wilmington, was also early connected with 
Portsmouth, Va., by the Seaboard and Roanoke, extending from Weldon, 
from which point also connection was made with Petersburg by addition 
to the road built to Bl.kely. Subse(|uently, a road (a branch of the 
Wilmington and Weldon road) was built to Scotland Neck, and this 
has recently been extended to Kinston, thus making two nearly par- 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 147 

allel lines belonging to that company, and adding very greatly to the 
prosperity of Halifax County. 

Plalifax, the county seat of Halifax County, is situated on the Roan- 
oke River, a town of great historic interest, but now of small impor- 
tance. It has a population of 312. Scotland Neck, growing into con- 
sequence since the war, has 776; Enfield, 5G3; Littleton, 303; Weldon, 
1,216; and Ringwood and Brinkloyville are small but interesting vil- 
lages. 

Halifax County has 400,185 acres of land, valued at $1,894,643; and 
1,138 town lots, valued at $489,900. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,926; mules, 1,523; jacks 
and jennies, 3; goats, 194; cattle, 6,692; hogs, 11,013; sheep, 2,552. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $9,212.50; pensions, $1,297.33; 
schools, $12,505; county, $10,006.08. 

Population— white, 9,614; colored, 19,924; total, 23,908. 

HARNETT. 

Harnett County lies on both sides of the Cape Fear River, on the 
north-western margin of the long-leaf pine belt. Near the river, and 
for several miles on both sides, its surface is quite hilly in its upper 
portion, and here the soil is of the intermediate character described as 
oak and pine sandy and gravelly hills. On the tops of the ridges and 
river hills these soils are gray sandy loams, but on the slopes they 
approach the character of clay loams, and are covered mainly with 
forests of oak and short-leaf pine. The body of the county belongs 
strictly to the long-leaf pine belt, and has the general characteristics of 
that region. The western section, as well as a narrow belt in the mid- 
dle, near the south bank of the river and some portions of the south 
side, partakes in part of the character of the pine barrens. Near the 
river, and along its principal tributaries from the west, and in the angles 
between these and tlie river, are wide tracis of gray, clayey, silty lands 
(oak and pine flats) and occasional narrow strips of gum and cypress 
swamp. Cotton production is the principal industry of the county, but 
grain, lumber and turpentine are also important products. 

The Cape Fear River pas.ses through the county, but it affords no 
facilities for navigation, except in giving passage during high water to 
rafts of timber and lumber. 

The branch of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad from Wilson 
to Florence, S. C, by way of Fayetteville, f^asses through the county, 
and has greatly stimulated industrial activity, several thriving and 
busy towns having been built along the line, and the agricultural and 
naval store interest greatly stimulated. 

Lillington is the county seat, a small village. Dunn, on the lino of 
the "Short-cut" Railroad, is the largest and tlie most important busi- 
ness point. It probably contains 600 inhabitants. 

Harnett Count}' contains 346,677 acres of land, valued at $758,450; 
and 442 town lots, valued at $67,23(5. 



148 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 759; mules, 883; goats, 2,082; 
cattle, 6,943; hogs, 18,124; sheep, 4,760. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $3,476.28; pensions, ^543. 89 ; 
schools, §5,463.78; countv, $4,208.25. 

Population— wliite, 9,433; colored, 4,247; total, 13,700. 

HAYWOOD. 

This large and beautiful county is as remarkable for the long extent 
of its mountain ranges and the height of its numerous peaks as it is for 
the extent of its valley system and the fertility of its soil. The Pisgah 
range skirts it partly on the east, culminating in the pyramidal cone of 
Pisgah Mountain, rising to the height of 5,750 feet. This range, inter- 
rupted by a depression of several miles, is continued by the New Found 
range, extended to the Tennessee line. A spur or range projects north- 
ward between ihe East and West Forks of Pigeon River, the highest 
peak of which is Cold Mountain, rising to tlie height of 6,063 feet. 
Along the western border extends the massive line of the Balsam Moun- 
tains, in this county attaining their greatest elevation. Here are fifteen 
peaks of more than 6,000 feet in height. Richhmd Balsnm is 6,425 feet 
high, and Double Spring Balsam is 6,380 feet. The Western North 
Carolina Railroad, by the Murphy branch, crosses this range at Scott's 
Creek Gap, at an elevation of 3,357 feet. 

The mountain lands, except on the summits of the higher ranges, 
which are densely wooded with the balsam fir, are very fertile. The 
sides and summits of the lower ridges, when cleared, prove adapted by 
nature to the production of grasses in great luxuriance. Herds grass, 
timothy, red-top and clover take readily to the soil. Within the last 
two years the genuine Kentuck}- blue grass has appeared spontaneously, 
as did the lespidcza, or Japan clover, and will greatly add to the value 
of the mountain pastures. Stock-raising is followed to considerable 
extent, and efforts are made to improve the value of the breeds. Sheep 
thrive, but are mostly of native breed, with little general effort at 
iinprovement. In the deeper mountain recesses their increase, and 
even their existence, is controlled by the presence of wolves, which are 
found in considerable numbers. 

Fruits grow to great perfection, and the ap^tles of Haywood are 
famous all over the mountain regions. 

l^obacco, in portions of the county, has become an iniiiortant article 
of industry, and the superiority of the product must tend to the increase 
of culture, the bright yellow tobacco proving little inferior to that of 
Granville, while the darker grades have characteristics in common with 
the famous Henry County tobacco of Virginia. The northern section 
of the county is best adapted to the successful culture of tobacco. 

In mineral wealth there has been no development, except in mica, 
which has been worked to considerable extent at Micadale, near Waynes- 
ville. Gold, copper, iron, lead, asbestos and other minerals are known 
to exist, but no mines are worked. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 149 

The moun'aiiis are clothed to their summits with forests of a great 
range of species. On the lower slopes and in the rich coves, besides 
the usual characteristic oaks, hickories, cucumbers, poplar, chestnut, 
etc., are found in abundance walnut, black locust, cherry and ash, and 
a little higher sugar maple, linden, black birch and beech, and on the 
highest ranges two species of fir. JSince the advt-nt of the railroad, 
lumbering is rapidly becoming an important industry. 

AVayncdville is the county seat, with a po|)ulation given by the census 
of 18*J0 at 455. It is finely situated in the valley of Richland Creek, 
overtopped by some of the grandest summits of the Balsam Mountains. 
It is a noted summer resort, and in the vicinity are the White Sulphur 
Springs, equipped with a commodious hotel surrounded with ample 
grounds. The Murphy branch of the Western North Carolina Rail- 
road passes through Waynesville. 

Clyde, a thriving village, and Pigeon River town, both on the rail- 
road, are growing towns. 

Haywood County has 208,498 acres of land, valued at -^990, 252; and 
199 town lots, valued at $95,112. 

Of domesiic animals there are— horses, 1,748; mules, 676; jacks and 
jennies, 19; goats, 24; cattle, 10,393; hog.'*, 12,663; sheep, 6,888. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $4,210.14; pensions, $640.37; 
schools, $5,861.10; countv, $10,052.40. 

Population— white, 12,829; colored, 517; total, 13,346. 

HENDERSON. 

Henderson County is a continuation southward of the French Broad 
valley described in Buncombe County, and its topographical features 
are very similar, except that there are broader areas of comparatively 
level and undulating lands, but of less fertilit}^ the soils being predomi- 
nantly light gray gravelly loams, and its forests being mixed growths 
of oak and pine, with hemlock and chestnut. Near the water-courses 
in the mountain coves are found walnut, clierr}', maple and occasion- 
ally white pine. 

This county is divided by the Blue Ridge into two unequal parts, a 
considerable portion of it lying on the south, on the South Carolina 
line, and on the east bounded by Polk County, being in the Piedmont 
Section. The remainder, or mountain plateau, is bordered on the east 
and south by the same range, and intersected at wide intervals by low 
ranges of mountains extending toward the north-west, it is closed in 
by the Pisgah range, the peak of that name being the common centre 
for the county lines of Plenderson, Transylvania, Buncombe and Hay- 
wood. 

The county is intersected by numerous streams. Green River, at the 
foot of the Blue Ridge, flows eastward between that range and the 
Saluda Mountains, and is an affluent of the Broad River, flowing south 
into South Carolina. The French Broad flows through the north-west- 
ern part of the county, and, receiving the waters of Mills River, Mud 
Creek and other considerable streams, becomes a bold, broad stream, 



150 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

which, by appropriations from the Government, has been made navi- 
gable for small steamboats. 

A remarkable feature of this county is the apparent great depression 
of its surface, and the width of the valleys along the streams, assuming, 
as on Mud Creek, the character of wide swamps. The whole interior 
of the county presents the aspect of one valley, into which project, like 
elongated promontories, small ranges of mountains. Looking north- 
west from Hendersonville, the eye sweeps over a level expanse of twenty 
miles, closed at that distance by the Pisgah range. This depression, 
however, is apparent rather than real, the most depressed portions being 
above the mean level of the Blue Ridge plateau, 2,250 feet, and pre- 
senting the appearance of a broad uplifted valley. 

The soil of this county is good, though not so fertile as other moun- 
tain counties, with the exception of the valleys, which are productive 
in grains and grass. Fruits are abundant and excellent. The mineral 
wealth of the county is not great. Limestone of excellent equality for 
the kiln is found on the w^est side of the French Broad, and is largely 
burned for the Asheville market. 

The agricultural industry of the county is quite largely directed to 
the cultivation of cabbage and other vegetables for the Southern mar- 
ket, and much attention is given to the canning of fruits and vegeta- 
bles. Among the minerals found in this county is zircon, found in 
large deposits in the valley of Green River, and exhumed in large 
quantities to be used in Germany in connection with gas fixtures. This, 
perhaps, is the largest deposit of this mineral in the United States. 

Hendersonville, the county seat, is credited with a population of 
1,216. This town is a noted summer resort for the citizens of South 
Carolina and other Southern States. It is reached by railroad, the 
Asheville and Spartanburg line passing through it. Two miles south 
of Hendersonville is Flat Rock, originally a summer settlement of 
wealthy South Carolinians, who surrounded themselves with ample 
ornamental grounds and erected handsome dwellings. It is also a gen- 
eral summer resort, a spacious hotel being ahva^'s open. 

Henderson County has 188,685 acres of land, valued at $989,996; 
and 655 town lots, valued at $256,035. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,056; mules, 621; jacks and 
jennies, 8; goats, 100; cattle, 7,184; hogs, 9,698; sheep, 5,740. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $4,639.4.?.; pensions, $655.50; 
schools, $5,093.08 ; county, $11,887. 

Population— white, 11,211; colored, 1,378; total, 12,589. 

HERTFORD. 

Hertford County lies on the northern border of the State, '^ and is 
bounded eastward by the Chowan River. The soils are, for the most 
part, of the general region of uj)land pin}' woods lands, but near the 
water-courses there are considerable tracts of oak and pine flats and 
alluvial land. Along the margin of the Chowan and some of the other 
water-courses are fringes of gum and cypress swamp. Marl in abun- 



DESCKIPTION OF COUNTIES. 151 

dance underlies the surface. Besides the culture of cotton and corn, 
there are the fish, lumber and naval stores industries. Cotton, lumber 
and other products are shipped by steamer and rail to Norfolk. 

Until recently this county has been without railroad facilities, depend- 
ing for transportation oh the Meherrin and Chowan Rivers, which flow 
through it or along its borders. Now the Norfolk and Carolina Rail- 
road, extending southwardly to Tarboro, and a branch road giving 
connection with Murfreesboro, have been provided. 

Murfreesboro is the most populous town in the county, with a popu- 
lation of G74, and is the seat of a flourishing female college. 

Winton, the county seat, has a population of 419. 

Hertford County has 207,241 acres of land, valued at $990,984; and 
421 town lots, valued at $192,309. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,356; mules, 679; jacks and 
jennies, 2; cattle, 4,154; hogs, 11,975; sheep, 2,404; goats, 377. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $5,366.25; pensions, $753.31; 
schools, $7,928.74; county, $4,045.90. 

Population — white, 5,906; colored, 7,945; total 13,851. 

HYDE. 

Hyde County is enveloped l)y sounds and great bay-like rivers, and 
its middle portion is occupied by a large lake, Mattamuskeet, twenty 
miles in length and six miles wide, with two other lakes in its northern 
portion. Two-thirds of its land-surface is occupied by the great Alli- 
gator Swamp. A narrow fringe of from one to two miles width around 
the central lake is the highest portion of the county, and is from six to 
ten feet above tide. It was originally covered with a heavy swamp 
growth of cypress, gum (tupelo), maple, ash, etc. These lands have 
been cultivated for a century, and still produce fifty bushels of corn to 
the acre, without manure or rotation. This ridge slopes off in every 
direction from the lake — eastward into a tract of oak flats which extends 
to the sound. The south-western portion of the county is within the pro- 
jecting arms of Pungo River, and other bays from Pamlico Sound, and 
may also be described as oak flats, with a soil which, in general terms, 
is a gray silty loam, an admirable wheat soil. The northern portion of 
this county, throughout its whole extent from east to west, is a low- 
lying savannah or peaty cypress and juniper swamp, like the Great 
Dismal, called xiUigator Swamp. The productions of this county are 
chiefly corn, wheat and cotton, to which has been added rice. Lum- 
bering and fishing complete the list of its industries. 

The exhaustless fertility of the lands of Hyde, affected neither by 
heat nor drought, have made them an assured granary, out of which 
the needs of other places may be always supplied; and a large number 
of coasting vessels make numerous trips to Charleston, Wilmington, 
New Bern and other markets. In the damp soils on the borders of 
Mattamuskeet Lake originated one of the best flavored and possibly 
the best keeping winter apple known — the Mattamuskeet — perfecting 
best in its original home, but doing well elsewhere. 

The remarkable character of the soil of Hyde County, its fertility 



152 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and its uncliangeab'e qualities, led Professor Emmons, a former State 
Geologist, to the following observations: 

"Some tracts have been cultivated over a century, and the crops 
appear to be equally as good as they were at an early period of their 
culture, and yet no manure has been employed, and they have been 
under culture in Indian corn every year, or what would be equivalent 
thereto. If this crop has been omitted, wheat has been substituted for 
it — not because they are properly wheat soils, but if they are unculti- 
vated the weeds acquire a .size that it is impossible to cover them the 
next year. The same difficulty occurs, in part, in the culture of corn. 
The stalks are so numerous and large that it is difficult to bury them 
so completely that they shall be concealed and preserve at the same 
time an even, handsome surface. The peculiarities of the soil of Hyde 
County are comprised in two particulars: First, the large quantity of 
vegetable matter they contain; second, the extreme fineness of the 
intermixed earthy matter. The earthy matter is invisible in coDse- 
quence of its fineness and evenly distributed through the maj^s An 
inspection of it even under a common lens would deceive most persons, 
and they would be led to infer that it was entirely absent. Unlike other 
soils, it contains no coarse visible particles of sand, and hence it appears 
that during the growth of the vegetables, which cover at least one-half 
of the soil, it was subjected to frequent overfiows of muddy water, or 
else the area over which these peculiar soils prevail was usually a mirey 
swamp which communicated with streams that brought over with it 
the finest sediment of some distant region. This sediment is frequently 
a fine grit, and fine enough for hones, and when the vegetable is burnt 
off it appears a light drab color. The character of the Hyde County 
soil has never been understood. The cause of its fertility has never 
been explained, and many persons who are good judges of lands have 
over-rated the value of swamp lands in consequence of the close exter- 
nal resemblance they have borne to those of Hyde. Analysi.s, however, 
will, in every case, detect the difference in the common swamp lands 
and those of Hyde. The color is black or dark brown, and the whole 
mass near the surface looks as if it was composed entirely of vegetable 
matter. We see no particles of sand or soil in it. On the sides and 
bottoms of the ditches a light gray or ashy soil is discernable; indeed, 
it is regarded as ashes, and is so called, and is supposed to have been 
formed by the combustion of ancient, beds of vegetable matter. The 
cultivated lands of Hyde are not chaffy — that is, when dry, like timber, 
liable to take fire from a spark originated by a gun-wad. There are. it 
is true, tracts lying in connecion with them of this characier, which 
are quite limited, but their occurrence does not aH'ect this general char- 
acteristic." 

Hyde County has 240,231 acres of land, valued at §522,378; and 78 
town lots, valued at $13,405 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1, 328; mules, ISO: goats, 100; 
cattle, G,G24 ; hogs, 9,753 ; sheep, 2,067. 

Product of taxation— for State uses, $2,638.35: pensions, §-104.98; 
schools, $3,708.49 ; countv, $3,658.25. 

Population— white, 4,962; colored, 3,941 : total, 8,903. 



m 




DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 153 



IREDELL. 

Iredell is a county of rolling uplands, and lies on the waters of the 
Catawba on the west, and of tbe Yadkin on the east, being mainly 
drained by the latter. It is divided in a north-westerly and south- 
easterly direction, by the course of the tributary streams, into broad, 
flatfish, elevated zones, the summits of which have generally a gray 
and yellow loam soil, with mixed oak and pine forests and occasitmal 
tracts of red-clay oak-covered soils, while along the streams, which 
abound in alluvial bottoms, fores' s of oak, walnut, hickory, etc., pre- 
dominate. One of these high swells or divides lies along and quite 
close to the course of the Catawba River, and has an elevation of i)00 
feet in its southern portion, rising to 1,000 feet and upward at its north- 
ern limit. The average elevation of the count}'^ is but little below 1,000 
feet above sea-level. 

The cotton crop has increased tenfold since 1870, and is confined 
mainly to the southern half, this form of agriculture having only 
recently passed beyond the middle of the county. The northern sec- 
tion produces tobacco as as its chief market crop, but corn and the 
small grains occupy the larger portion of the tilled surface of the county, 
and aggregate more than 800,000 bushels. 

The tobacco crop is greater than indicated by the census figures, 
w^iich place the crop of 1880 at 199,758 pounds — less than that of 1879. 
The largely increased business in Statesville, both in sales and manu- 
factures, indicate an error, which our own Sta'e returns do not correct. 

Iredell County has good railroad facilities, the Western North Caro- 
lina Railroad passing through it, and the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio 
Railroad connecting it with Charlotte on the south, and another branch 
line of twenty-five miles with Taylorsville on the north. AVith its varie- 
ties of soil and of products, its water-power and conveniences for manu- 
facture, the whole county is undergoing rapid development and improve- 
ment. 

Statesville, the county seat, on the Western North Carolina Railroad, 
has a population of 2,318. It has a United States public building, a 
female college, manufactories of various kinds, and is prosperous. 

Iredell Countv has 362,010 acres of land, valued at |l,858,014; and 
829 town lots, valued at $600,652. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 2,795; mules, 2,141; jacks 
and jennies, 24; goats, 48; cattle, 8,334; lioss, 13,067; sheep, 4,509. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, §10,239.74; pensions, §1,378.51 ; 
schools, S10,674.27; county, §11,545.60. 

Population— white, 19,516; colored, 5,946 ; total, 25,462. 

JACKSON. 

Jackson County extends from South Carolina on the south nearly 
across the State, being separated by the narrow county of Swain from 
the State of Tennessee. The general form is one broad valley, lying 



154 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

between the Balsam Mountains on the east and the Cowee Mountains 
on the west. But the term valley would convey an erroneous idea, since 
the space between these two dominant ranges is filled with numerous 
cross chains, making the mountain character predominant, while the 
valleys are exceptional. 

Little encroachment has 3'et been made on the massive forests which 
clothe the hills and mountains. Nowhere in the mountain country is 
the timber more varied in kind or more majestic in size. 

With the exception of the high plateau at the south end of the county, 
where Cashier's A^alley is situated, and where the soil is light and some- 
what thin, the soil is of great fertility, remarkable for the high percent- 
age of productive arable lands. 

'1 he usual crops and fruits of the mountain section thrive luxuriantly. 
Tobacco is found to be well adapted to both soil and climate, and its 
culture is increasing. 

This count}' is very rich in minerals, though there has been little 
development of quantity or value. Several copper veins of ascertained 
richness have been opened. Chromic iron is found in large quantities 
near Webster. Nickel ores, or genthites, are found in the same locality. 
Other ores of iron are abundant. Mica, asbestos and corundum are 
also abundant. 

In the northern part of the county, along the Tuckaseege River and 
along the waters of Soco Creek, is an Indian reservation inhabited by 
families of Cherokees, who are also distributed tiirough the adjacent 
counties of Swain and Graham. The whole number in these counties 
is nearly fifteen hundred. The}' have adopted the habits of the white 
men, and are engaged in agricultural pursuits. They have their schools 
and churches, and are under the guardianship of their chief, James 
Blythc, an educated and intelligent native. 

The county is now intersected by the Western North Carolina Rail- 
road; and from Sylva, a station on that road, a branch line has been 
constructed to Webster, the county seat. 

Among the mineral substances applied to use is kaolin, found in great 
abundance near the valleys of Scott's and Savannah Creeks, and pre- 
pared for the use of potteries and porcelain works at Sylva and Dills- 
boro. The manufactured product is ver}'- beautiful. 

Cattle-raising in the mountain ranges engages the industry of the 
inhabitants, and large numbers of animals are annually driven to 
market. 

Webster, the county seat, has a poj)ulation of 200. Sylva and Dills- 
boro are flourishing villages on the line of railroad. 

Jackson County has 317,280 acres of land, valued at $601,071 ; and 
135 town lots, valued at $37,055. 

Of domestic animals it has — horses, 1,163; mules, 331; jacks and 
jennies, 10; goats, 22: cattle, 8,113; hogs, 12,399; sheep, 6,106. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, ^2,427.03; pensions, $373.37; 
schools, $3,121,29; county, $3,263.36. 

Population — white, 8,630; colored, 528 : Indians, 375; total, 9,512. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIP:S. 155 



JOHNSTON. 

JoliDSion County lies on the upper waters of the Neuse River and 
its larger tributaries, which traverse it in a south-east direction, and 
consist-2, for the most part, of level and gently rolling piny uplands, 
with a few small bodies of more sandy and barren pine lauds. It lies 
on the western margin of the long-leaf pine region, its south-eastern 
half being characterized in its general featurfs by the same soils and 
growth as the average of that belt, while along the north-western mar- 
gin the lands are more hilly, and the l)iny belts are alternated along 
the streams and more hilly portions with oak and pine forests and 
gravelly loam soils. Tliere are tracts of quite sandy soil in the eastern 
section, while in the middle section are large bodies of pine flats. 

Johnston is one of the most prosperous counties, as, besides its large 
cotton crop, the grain product reaches nearly 500,000 bushels, and its 
crop of potatoes exceeds 200,000 bushels. Cotton is the principal crop 
of the county, and prospers in almost all parts of the county, especially 
on the broad belts of bottom lands lying along the Neuse River, Swift 
Creek and other streams. 

The county is traversed from east to west by the North Carolina 
Railroad, from north to south by the "Short-cut" line from Wilson to 
Florence, S. C, and is penetrated by the Midland Railroad, extending 
from Goldsboro to Smitlifield, a distance of twenty-five miles. The 
navigation of the Neuse River has been opened as far as Smithfield for 
steamboats, but is not kept regularly open, and the markets are sought 
through the railroads. 

Smithfield is the county seat, and has a population of 550. Cla^^ton 
has a population of 478, Selma of 527, Boon Hill of 243, and Pine Level 
of 264. All those last mentioned are on the North Cai'olina Railroad. 

Johnston County has 483,295 acres of land, valued at $2,234,344; and 
810 town lots, valued at $245,790. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,623; mules, 2,002; jacks 
and jennies, 8; goats, 3,198; cattle, 10,682; hogs, 37,651; sheep, 7,225. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $9,861.66; pensions, $1,458.16; 
schools, §13,898.67 ; county, $11,676.59. 

Population— white, 19,917; colored, 7,322; total, 27,239. 

JONES. 

The great tract of swamp land which lies between the Neuse River 
and the Atlantic Ocean, and extends through a considerable portion of 
the two preceding counties, projects westward into Jones Count}', where 
it reaches its highest elevation of forty feet, and is crowned b}' a chain 
of small lakes of from one to three or four miles in diameter on the 
summit, on the border of Jones and Carteret Counties. The northern 
border of the county is occupied by a portion of the great Dover Poco- 
son, which projects into it from Craven. In its middle and southern 
sections lies a great part of the great White Oak Swamp, the central 



156 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

portion of which is also a pocoson, but it is margined about with fringes 
of canebrake lands, white-oak flats and cranberry marshes, as well as 
by considerable tracts of swamp lands covered with oak, cypress, gum, 
poplar, ash, etc. Trent River flows through the (entre, and, witii its 
tributaries, drains almost its entire aiea. Along this river, on both 
sides, are considerable bodies of long-leaf pine sandy lands. There are 
also along the main river, as well as its tributaries, narrow strips of oak 
flats and occasional gum and cypress swamj)s. 

The soils of this county are of two kinds — the one of a light loamy 
soil, more or less mixed with sind, with a subsoil of gray clay, easy of 
cultivation, returning good crops of cotton and grain, and an excellent 
soil for truck farming. It also produces excellent bright tobacco, though 
this crop, at present, does not appear to increase. The other is a heavy 
loam, underlaid with a substratum of stiff red cla}', producing abun- 
dantly cotton, grains or tobacco. The fertility is largely due to the 
presence in the soil of decomposed shells or carbonate of lime. This 
material is also found undecomposed, in solid massf s, often outcropping 
above the soil and providing an easily accessible building material or 
material for burning into lime. 

Trent River runs through the county, uniting with tiie Neuse at New 
Bern and providing steamboat navigation from that city up to Treniou. 

Trenton is the county seat, and has a po[)ulation of 207. 

Jones County has 212,319 acres of land, valued at $702,087; and 116 
town lots, valued at $30,407. 

Of domestic animals there are 566 horses, 561 mules, 2 jacks and 
jennies, 587 goats, 3,563 cattle, 8,953 hogs, and 1,493 sheep. 

Product of taxation— for State purposes, -^2,513 05; pensions, $376.11 ; 
schools, $2,736.53; county, $5,890.93. 

Population — white, 3,885: colored, 3,518; total, 7,403. 

LENOIR. 

Lenoir County lies on the lower course of the Neuse, east of Wayne. 
The northern half consists of level piny uplands of the same character 
as those of the counties adjoining it on the north, having narrow tracts 
of swamp land along its water-courses, while in its western and north- 
ern parts there are wide tracts of level semi-swamp lands, which are 
characterized b}' a dark tine gray loam of great fertility. The southern 
half of the count}', south of the Neuse, is characterized generally by a 
more sandy soil, and on the higher divides between the streams by 
narrow zones of pine barrens The water-courses in this half of the 
county are also bordered by cypress and gum swamps, and, to some 
extent, by oak and pine flats. Shell marl (blue), chalk marl and green 
sand are all found in this county — one or the other in almost every 
neighborhood. The face of the countrv may be described as level, 
though there are some portions where the land is rolling. 

Cotton is the great staple. The soil is well adapted to the cultivation 
of corn and all other cereals; also Irish and swett potatoes. All the 
fruits of the temperate regions can be successfully grown, and the cul- 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 157 

tivation, if made a specialty, would be attended wiih profit. There are 
no lands in the entire State of North Carolina better adapted to the 
cultivation of bright yellow tobacco than the lands of Lenoir Count}'. 
Owing to the great prosperity of this county, land is in demand. There 
is a high order of intelligence among the farming population, and they 
are well abreast with the recent improvements in farming and are well 
informed in agricultural chemistry. They take rank with the most 
successful farmers in the South. Their lands are scientifically culti- 
vated, and their farms are models of neatness. 

While cotton is the leading crop, intelligent care is taken for an abun- 
dant provision of breadstuff and flesh-producing animals, and no people 
of the State are better prepared to meet the contingencies of low prices 
and partial injury to crops than the farmers of Lenoir. 

The Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad traverses the county, giv- 
ing access to all the markets; and this facility has given an impetus to 
truck farming, for which soil and climate are well adapted, and all the 
early vegetables cultivated on the shores of navigable waters are sent 
to market from Lenoir with equal facility and profit. The Neuse is 
navigable to Kinston and for a few miles above, and is navigated by 
regular lines of fi eight steamboats. 

Kinston, the capital, is situated on the Neuse River, and also on the 
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad; and is also the southern ter- 
minus of a branch of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, extend- 
ing from Weldon via Scotland Neck, a distance of 112 miles. Kinston 
is a considerable cotton market, and forwards annually between 10,000 
and 12,000 bales. The population is 1,726 by the census of 1S90. 
LaGrange, by the same census, has a population of 775. 

Lenoir County has 244,023 acres of land, valued at ^1,101,884; and 
612 town lots valued at $378,700. 

Of domestic animals there are 995 horses, 1,082 mules, 2 jacks and 
jennies, 3,152 cattle, 12,385 hogs, 3,324 sheep, and 636 goats. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $5,997.48; pensions, S797.94; 
schools, $6,431.12; county, $6,672.45. 

Population — white, 8,517 ; colored, 6,362 ; total, 14,879. 

LINCOLN. 

Lincoln County lies south of Catawba County and west of the Catawba 
River, and its features, agricultural and topographical, are those of that 
county, and may be described in nearly the same terms. Its territorv 
is drained b}' the parallel courses of the numerous tributaries of the 
South Fork of the Catawba, which traverses its middle section, and the 
average elevation is nearly 1,000 feet above sea-level. In its middle 
portion is a north and south zone, several miles in breadth, of red-clay 
soils, with oak and hickory forests. For the rest, its forests are mixed 
oak and pine, and its soils are gray and yellow gravelly loams. The 
eastern side of the county is quite hilly near the river. 

This county, once one of the largest in the State, has been so reduced 
by the formation of other counties from its territory as to be one of the 



158 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

smallest. It, however, retains much of its former consequence, owing 
to the productiveness of its soil, the variety of its crops, the value of its 
ores, and its fine water-power and consequent adaptation to the uses of 
manufactures. 

It produces tobacco of good quality and in considerable quantity, 
and a cotton crop of about 4,000 bales, besides wheat, corn and other 
grains. It is naturally the home of the grape, and it is here the cele- 
brated Lincoln grape had its origin. It has been long noted for its 
productive iron mines, which have been worked since ante-Revolu- 
tionary days. It has abundant water-power, both from the main stream 
of the Catawba River and from the South Fork of the same stream, 
and upon both of them are large cotton factories. 

Lincolnton is the county seat, and has a population of 957. It is on 
the Carolina Central road, which is here intersected by the Chester and 
Lenoir Narrow Gauge Railroad, thus giving the town and the county 
ample facilities for travel and transportation. 

Lincoln Countv has 177,859 acres of land, valued at S1,047,G70; and 
281 town lots, valued at $125,532. 

Of domestic animals there are — horses, 1,223; mules, 1,412; jacks 
and jennies, 11; goats, 25; cattle, 1,558; hogs, 7,367; sheep, 2,757. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $1,977.27: pensions, 1690.13; 
schools, $5,051.11 ; county, $5,702.59. 

Population— white, 10,028; colored, 2,558; total. 12,586. 

Mcdowell. 

McDowell County lies on the eastern flank of the Blue Ridge, near 
its highest parts, which exceed in this region an elevation of 5,500 feet, 
and its whole territory may be de.scribed as mountainous. Its average 
elevation is more than 1,5(30 feet, and it is for the most part drained by 
the headwaters of the Catawba River. The southern and broader end 
of its triangular territory is traversed east and west by the South Moun- 
tains, a long eastward projection or spur from the Blue Ridge. Along 
the course of the Catawba River and some of its chief tributaries are 
wide tracts of sandy and alluvial bottoms, which are vi ry productive. 
The hilly and mountainous tracts have the usual variety of gray and 
yellowish oak uplands soils of mtdium fertility and mixed forests of 
oak, pine, chestnut, etc. Reddish clay loam soils, with a preponderant 
oak forest, are found in {)atches here and there in the middle and south- 
eastern sections. A large proi)ortion of the soils of the county are well 
adapted to the better grades of tobacco, and the agriculture of the county 
has the great advantage of an abundance of limestone in the northern 
and middle sections. Gold mining in the South Mountains has long 
been an important industry, several mica mines having been opened, 
and some attention is given to lumbering. There is a large amount of 
valuable timber on the slo})es of the Blue Ridge and in the mountain 
coves, which must become the foundation of important manufactures, 
and then there is an indefinite amount of water-power. Iron ores of 
low grade are abundant. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 159 

Considerable attention has been given to tobacco — less so than for- 
merly — though the result was sat sfactory, the product being an excel- 
lent bright yellow. Some cotton is cultivated, but the chief crops are 
small griiins — wheat, corn, etc. 

Fine bottom lands are found along the Catawba River, which rises 
in the mountain sides of this county, and thence flows through the 
county in a continuity of broad fertile valley. Other fine valleys are 
those of Turkey Cove and North Cove. Besides the Blue Ridge on the 
north and west, the South Mountains and their continuation lie on the 
south side of the county, and continue to be, as they have been for more 
than half a century, productive fields of gold placer mining. 

The Western North Carolina Railroad passes through tlie county, 
and the Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago road is complete as far as 
Marion, and gives new and independent connections east and south. 

Marion, the county seat, has a population of 791. Its siiuation in 
relation to two railroads has brought it prominently into notice, and it 
is steadily improving. 

Old Fort, at the foot of the mountains, before the Revolutionary war 
the seat of a fort planted there to hold the Cherokee Indians on the 
other side of the mountains, is a summer resort, has some manufactures, 
and a population of 250. 

McDowell Countv has 250,120 acres of land, valued at $534,608; and 
1,147 town lots, valued at $76,729. 

Of domestic animals there are 750 horses, 800 mules, 5 jacks and 
jennies, 4,065 cattle, 6,420 hogs, and 2,000 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State uses — $2,323.19 ; pensions, $379.61 ; 
schools, $3,332.22 ; county, $9,604.39. 

Population— white, 9,114; colored, 1,825 ; total, 10,939. 

MACON. 

Macon County extends from the South Carolina and Georgia lines, 
on the south, northward to the southern boundary of Swain County. 
It lies between the Cowee range on the east and the Nantahala Moun- 
tains on the west, while along the southern border stretches the Blue 
Ridge, here assuming its boldest, most precipitous and picturesque forms; 
the precipices of Whitesides, Black Rock, Fodder Stack, Satvola and 
Scaly breaking down towards the south with perpendicular faces, of a 
depth of from J ,000 to 1,500 feet. The highest peak in the Cowee range 
is the Yellow Mountain, 5,133 feet high. The Nantahala Mountains 
are a majestic range, beginning with Pickens Nose, 4,926 feet high ; 
thence extending northward with a uniform general height of about 
5,000 feet, the highest point being the AA'ayah, near where the State 
crosses the Gap at a height of 4,138 feet, that mountain being 5,494 feet 
in height. Between the Tennessee River and its tributary, the Culla- 
sagee, a range extends northward from the Blue Ridge, terminating 
near the confluence of these streams, the highest point of which is the 
Fish Hawk, 4,749 feet. Numerous shorter spurs project at right angles 
from the main chains of the Cowee and the Nantahala, between which 



160 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

are streams of ten or twelve miles in length flowing through broad and 
fertile valleN's. The chief of these are Cartoogajay, Wavah, Cowee and 
Ellijay. 

The Tennessee River is the principal stream, rising in Georgi. near 
Rabun Gap, and flowing northward through a fine valley of great fer- 
tility, until it unites with the Tuckaseege. The current of this stream 
is more gentle than any found among the mountains, and the fall is so 
gradual that it is selected as a railroad route, the grade not exceeding 
forty-seven feet to the mile through the whole length of ]\Iacon County. 
The whole valley of the Tennessee is in cultivation, the whole being 
very fertile. 

The next largest stream is the Cullasagee, or Sugar Fork of the Ten- 
nessee. This stream, in its whole length, has a tumultuous course, 
rising on the high plateau of the Highlands, 4,000 feet above sea-level, 
and cutting its way down to the level of the Tennessee through the 
opposing mountains in a series of rapids, cascades and cataracts, adding 
greatly to picturesque effect, but, except as water-power, adding nothing 
of economical value. The Nantahala is a beautiful mountain stream, 
having its bed in a trough on almost the top of the Nantahala Moun- 
tains, the depression between that range and the Valley River or Tus- 
quittah Mountains being very small. 

The area of open land, assimilating in character to the features of 
the piedmont country, is greater than in any other western county. 
Farms are more numerous and more continuous, and population more 
dense. The soil is productive. 

The chief crops are wheat, corn, rye and oats, and grass grows luxu- 
riantly wherever seeded, on hill-side or in valley. Some tobacco is 
raised — once quite largely — but it has now ceased to be a market crop. 

Minerals are abundant, but no mines are worked except those of 
corundum and mica. The former, near the Cullasagee, are worked 
extensively, the product being about thirty tons a month. Mica is 
mined extensively in several localities. 

Franklin is the county seat. It is finely situated. Its population is 
less than 500, its distance from railroad being hostile to its development. 

Highlands is a new village established by northern settlers as a sani- 
tarium, on the crest of the Blue Kidge, on a broad plateau, at an eleva- 
tion of 3,750 feet above the sea. It is thriving, and has a population 
of about 500, representing thirty-one States and Territories. 

Macon County has 348,354 acres of land, valued at $615,984 ; and 
381 town lots, valued at $78,175. 

Of domestic animals it has 1,315 horses, 797 mules, jacks and jen- 
nies, 42 goats, 8,318 cattle, 13,330 hogs, and 7,199 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, S2,959.83 ; pensions, $449.29 
schools, $3,551.07 ; countv, $5,431.10. 

Population— white, 9,436; colored, 666; total, 10,102. 




CULLASAGEE FALLS, MACON COUNTY. 



/ 






^ 











JT ROCK. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 161 



MADISON. 



This county lies north of Buncombe, which is its southern boundary. 
The Smoky Mountains separate it on the north from Tennessee, Yancey 
County bounds it on the east, and Haywood on the west. 

The county is essentially a mountain territory. There is little or none 
of valley land=, the whole surface being traversed by ranges of moun- 
tains, ranging from 2,500 to 4,500 feet above sea-lev^el. ^Jone of them 
rise to the stupendous height they attain in the adjoining countiesof Yaur 
cey and Haywood, the great Smoky range even being depressed below 
its average height. But though mountainous, almost the whole soil is 
of surpassing fertility. In few counties does the timber attain such 
vast dimensions, and in some favored localities its size might appear 
fabulous. On the Laurel River walnut eight feet in diameter, poplar 
ten or twelve, wild cherry three or four, buckeye of the same, black 
birch of the same size and of proportionate height, are the common 
growth of the county. And to them may be added other trees too 
many in variet}^ to enumerate. 

From such exuberance of soil much of agricultural prodigality of 
wealth might be expected. Nor is there disap[)ointment in expectation, 
though from absence of the means of transportation agricultural effort 
was limited to the production of little more than the necessaries of life 
until the discovery that these mountainous hills had peculiar adaptation 
to the production of superior tobacco. For ten j^ears or more Madison 
County has been foremost in the production of very superior bright 
yellow tobacco. The impulse given by its culture has had marked 
effect upon the condition of the county. Land held at nominal prices 
has increased in value. Mountain sides and tops that seemed destined 
forever to wear their vesture and crown of forest have been brought 
into cultivation. Men that ten years ago scarcely knew the sight or 
name of money have become prosperous and relatively rich, and the 
county is now one most forward in improvement. 

The soil is prolific in other products. All the grains are prolific in 
yield, and the grasses flourish in remarkable luxuriance, stock-iaising 
being a very considerable source of revenue which might be indefinitely 
enlarged. 

The mineralj|wealth of the county is known to be great, but unde- 
veloped. Magnetic iron and other ores of the same metal are found in 
numerous localities. Corundum of good quality' is found on Ivy River 
and tributaries. Barytes is mined to some extent below Marshall. 
Lime exists in a vein of half a mile in breadth, exhibiting itself in 
lofty and picturesque cliffs a mile below the Hot Springs. 

The French Broad River bisects the county, passing through it, a 
broad roaring torrent between precipitous hills, encroaching so closely 
upon the river as to leave little room for human habitation or enter- 
prise. Laurel River and Ivy River both come in on the right bank, 
large bold streams, each cutting its way through the mountains, pre- 

11 



162 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

senting characteristics similar to tliose of the French Broad and equally 
unavailable as water-power. 

The tobacco crop for 1889 by the last census returns is stated at 
2,168,232 pounds, a large proportion of which is bright yellow. It is 
marketed chiefly at Asheville, and to some extent at Lynchburg and 
Danville. 

The Paint Rock branch of the Western North Carolina Raih'oad, 
winding through the confined gorge of the French Br< ad River, now 
gives ready access to market, and is now one of the great highways of 
coniinental travel. 

Marshall, the county seat, is situated in a narrow strip of land 
betwt^en overtopping hills and the river, with a breadth of less than a 
hundred yards and a lengih of less than half a mile. It has a popu- 
lation of about 200, active and enter[)rising, and is ihe centre of a large 
tobacco business, there beiuij here two tobacco sales warehouses. 

Hot Springs, IG miles below Marshall, is the most noted sf)ot in the 
county, celebrated for its warm baths, its extensive hotel, and the beauty 
of its surroundings. Its importance is confined chiefly to its character 
as a health and pleasure resort. 

Madison County has 227,238 acres of land, valued at $035,957, and 
130 town lots, vafued at $60,230. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,492 horses, 1,327 mules, 14 jacks 
and jennies, 10,096 cattle, 10,925 hogs, and 5,303 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for S'ate uses, $4,239.42; pensions, $718.39; 
schools, $6,746.82; county, $11,987.28. 

Populition — white, 17,095; colored, 710; total, 17,805. 

MARTIN. 

Martin County is bordered on the north b}' the very tortuous course 
of the Roanoke River, the tributary waters of which, for the most part, 
drain it northward into that river. The larger part of its territory 
belongs to the region of level piny uplands, having a gray sandy loam 
soil. The higher ridge land, near the south bank of the Koanoke River, 
has a soil lighter and more sand}', and is characterized by a consider- 
able admixture of long-leaf pine and the average proportion of oaks 
and short-leaf pine, etc. Along the Roanoke and some of its tributa- 
ries there are extensive bottoms or alluvial lands, and iibout the head 
stre^mis of its tributaries considerable tracts of swamp land. 

The agriculture of the county corresi)onds, in its main features, to 
that of Edgecombe and the adjacent counties, but its soils are less pro- 
ductive and its agriculture is less advanced, partly because of its large 
and profitable lumber industry in the great cypress swamps of the 
Roanoke. Marl i.s abundant, and is used to a moderate extent. The 
production of cotton annually reaches from 4,000 to (5,000 bales, and the 
rich alluvial lands are ])rolitic in corn, rice and other grains. 

The increase of raili'oad facilities, giving access to swamp and forest 
region, before out of profitable reach, has given great stimulus to the 
lumber business, besides promoting general enterprise and advancing 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 163 

property. A railroad extends from Washington, in Beaufort County, 
to Jamesville, on the Roanoke. Originally designed as a road for the 
transportation of limber, it has expanded into one of general utility, 
connected with lines of freight and travel. Another road, connecting 
at Tarbor ) with ttie exten-ive Coast Line system, reaches Wiiliamston, 
on the Roanoke, and tinr-nce becomes part of a through line of travel 
and transportation. These road-:, together with the navigation of the 
Roanoke River and some smaller but de^p interior streams, provide 
Martin County with ample means of communication. 

Williamson, situated on the Roanoke, has a population of 751, James- 
ville of 316, Hamilton of 782, and R>bertsville of 228. 

Martin Countv has 282,8h() acres of land, valued at $1,086,228; and 
599 town lots, valued at $257,007. 

Prodnct of taxation — for Stiite uses, $5,806.27; pensions, $837.70; 
schools, $7,972.47; county, $7,459 96. 

Population — white, 7,838; colored, 7,383 ; total, 15,221. 

MECKLENBURG. 

Mecklenburg County is located in the south-western portion of North 
Carolina, north of the 35th parallel of latitude, about 200 miles from 
the Atlantic coast, and 100 miles east of the Appalachian range of 
mounains, and is bounded on the .-outh b}' the State of South Carolina, 
and on the west by the Catawbi River. 'Ihe county was originally 
largely s ttled by Scotch, with Iiish, German and English intermingled. 
The elevation varies between (500 and 900 feet, the average being about 
700 feet above the sea. This is on-^ of the largest and most productive, 
as well as one of the mo-t populous, counties in the State. The pro- 
duction of cott >n constitutes the principal feature of the agriculture of 
the • ntire county, having increased more than threefold in the last ten 
years Before the war the culture of cotton did not reach northward 
beyond the middle of the count}' A considerable portion of the terri- 
tory of this county belongs to the cla-s of red-clay lands which were 
originally covered with heavy forests ot oak — pine coming in as a con- 
stituent of the forests only on the summits of the ridges and divides 
between the streams, where the soils are gray and yellow sandy loams. 
The high r t>ortion of the county, which lies along the water-shed 
between the Yadkin and the Ca'awba in a north and south direction, 
belongs, in the main, to the latter class of soils, but has here and there 
sm lit tracts of red clay. This county shows a large product of cotton, 
ranking third in this respect; and also produces corn and the small 
grains on a large scale. 

G »ld and copper mining are important industries in several sections 
of the county. Tne principal minerals are gold, copper, soapstone and 
barytes. For over fifty years the gold mines have been famous for their 
yield of rich ores. After descending below water-level twenty to forty 
feet, the ores of the veins are converted into sulphurets, and no com- 
plete process has yet been introduced and established by which the 
gold, silver, lead and copper can be eliminated. A perfect process for 



164 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

separating the valuable metals from the earthy substances would prove 
invaluable and develop many of the richest mines of the continent. 
A large capital is now invested in these mines, some of which are being 
successfully worked. 

The numerous railways entering the county, and all centering in 
Charlotte, have stimulated all industries and encouraged all enterprises. 
Agriculture has advanced with the encouragement of ready markets 
and promoted by the operations of the stock law. Good roads facilitate 
the work of the farmer in his resort to the market, and have advanced 
materially the value of rural property. The railroads radiate from 
Charlotte in all directions. The first built is the branch of the South 
Carolina road, now known as the Charloite, Columbia and Augusta 
road; then the North Carolina road, of which Charlotte was the west- 
ern terminus, and which is now a part of the Richmond and Danville 
system — part of one of the great through lines of travel and traffic ; 
and this line is extended to Atlanta, going from Charlotte through the 
south-western part of Mecklenburg County, and developing greatly the 
resources of a country before much secluded. The Carolina Central, 
beginning at Wilmington, passes through Charlotte, to find its present 
terminus at Rutherfordton, thus giving Charlotte anotlier east and west 
line; and the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio road, connecting at States- 
ville with the Western North Carolina Railroad, makes additional valu- 
able connections and develops another part of the county. Charlotte 
is also directly connected with the new line recently opened from Mon- 
roe to Atlanta, and thus is provided with railroad facilities unequalled 
in North Carolina. The effect, not only upon Charlotte, but the whole 
county, has been very great; and no city and no county exhibits more 
solidly attained or more permanently secured prosperity. 

Charlotte, the county seat, by the census of 1890, is credited with a 
population of 11,557. The city is well laid out, has well paved streets, 
lines of electric street cars, electric lighting, water-works, sewerage, 
telephone exchange, public parks, and all the conveniences and necessi- 
ties of healthy corporate existence ; has numerous and elegant churches, 
schools, an opera-house, an auditorium, capacious and elegant hotels, a 
United States Assay Office, an elegant public building for Federal 
court-house and post-office. In addition it bas a compress which com- 
pressed to December, 1891 — one year's work — 85,5(38 bales, four cotton 
factories, fertilizer factor}', iron works (2), oil mill, hosiery-works, spoke 
and handle-works, lumber-works, etc. 

Davidson College, the seat of the college of that name, has a popula- 
tion of 481, Matthews of 335, Huntersville of 431. 

Mecklenburg Countv has 324,949 acres of land, valued at §;2,414,0S3, 
and 2,205 town lots, valued at $2,182,948. 

Of domestic animals there are 2,613 horses, 3,067 mules, 15 jacks 
and jennies, 8,755 cattle, 10,694 hogs, 2,448 sheep, and 97 goats. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $24,051.07; pensions, $2,951.22; 
schools, $20,880.73; countv, $09,617.71. 

Population— white, 23,141; colored, 19,532; total, 42,673. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 165 



MITCHELL. 



Mitchell County lies between the Blue Iliflge on the south and east, 
and the Smoky Mountains on the north, the west having a conventional 
boundary. The whole county is to a great degree mountainous, there 
being little valley formation except on the upper waters of the Toe 
River. The highest mountain is the Roan, which rises to the height 
of 0,332 feet. The North Toe River is the principal stream flowing out 
of the Stale under the name of the Nolechucky and one of the main 
affluents of the Holston River in Tennessee. 

^ The soil of Mitchell is uniformly fertile, the timber of large size and 
of great variety. The cereals grow to great perfection. Apples, cherries 
and grapes are of great excellence, and much of the land proves well 
adapted to the production of very fine tobacco. The grasses flourish, 
and cattle are reared for market in considerable numbers. 

The mineral products of this county are confined at present to mica 
and iron; copper and other metals have been found. The famous 
Cranberry mines are in the north-eastern corner of the county, and 
now extensively worked. They are connected by railroad with the 
Norfolk and Southern Railroad at Johnson City, Tennessee. 

The mica mines are the most extensive in the United States, and 
proiuce a large proportion of the mica put on the market. The most 
productive mines are those onc9 worked by an aboriginal race. 

Tobacco of fine quality is grown to considerable extent, the census 
returns for 1889 crediting the county with 44,448 pounds. The timber 
industry is a great and growing one. 

In this county is the Roan Mountain, 0,332 feet high, o i whose long 
grass-covered summit is a fine hotel, made easily accessible, and one of 
the most, if not the most, elevated health and pleasure resorts in the 
United States. 

Bakersville, the county seat, has a population of about 300, and Elk 
Park of 313. 

Mitchell County has 208,815 acres of land, valued at $592,968, and 
157 town lots, valued at $60,115 

Of domestic animals there are 1,437 horses, 390 mules, 5 jacks and 
jennies, 4 goats, 0,316 cattle, 5,421 hogs, 3,343 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, $2,414.38; pensions, $402.07; 
schools, $3,393.33; county, $7,207.17. 

Population — white, 12,252; colored, 535; total, 12,807. 

MONTGOMERY. 

In its topographical features Montgomery Count}' may be described 
in nearly the same terms as Chatham. Several low chains of moun- 
tains or high ranges of slate hills cross its territory in a direction nearly 
north and south. The county is drained by the Yadkin River and two 
of its chief tributaries, the Uwharrie and Little Rivers. Its territory, 
therefore, is C|uite broken in surface. Its soils are mostly sandy and 



166 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

gravelly loams, with occasional tracts of red clays. Along its eastern 
border, and particularly in its south-eastern corner, there are large 
bodies of valuable timber, as it here touches the long-leaf pine belt ; 
the lands are of the common character of this border region, and its 
soils are generally lean. Cotton is quite a subordinate interest in com- 
parison with grains. The water-power of its rivers is very great, the 
Yadkin having a fall within the county of more than 200 feet and a 
force per foot of above 350 horse-power. There are many valuable 
gold mines, both vein and placer. 

The gold mines frequently occasion an excitement similar to that 
which accompanied the discoveries in California. The gold is frequently 
found in lumps weighing from four to eight pounds. But though 
found in this way through a series of many years, there has been no 
continuity of discovery and no permanent prosperity to miners. The 
alleged wealth of the Saunders mine, discovered a few years ago, led to 
some large investments and the introduction of much costly machinery. 

The growing scarcity of pine timber in the more accessible pine belt 
has led to the construction, by private enterprise, of a railroad from 
Aberdeen, on the Raleigh and Augusta Railroad, to West End, in 
Montgomery County, a distance of 25 miles, where the fresh forests are 
brought into use and numerous and large mills have been erected. 

Troy is the county seat, and, including Troy township, contains 1,389 
inhabitants. 

Montgomerv County contains 314,500 acres of land, valued at 
$844,800, and"^129 town lots, valued at $29,997. 

Of domestic animals there are 816 horses, 982 mules, 4 jacks and 
jennies, 170 goats, 7,050 cattle, 9,550 hogs, and 4,865 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State purposes, $3,442.31 ; pensions, $551.26 ; 
schools, $4,194.80; county, $7,850.68. 

Population— white, 8,982; colored, 2,257; total, 11,239. 

MOORE. 

Moore County lies on the western margin of the long-leaf pine belt. 
Its middle and southern portions belong largely to the class of lands 
called pine barrens or "sand hills." The northern part of this trian- 
gular territory partakes more of the character of the oak uplands 
agricultural division, being very hilly and broken, with sandy and 
gravelly soil on the higher ridges, having a mixed oak and pine growth, 
and on'the slopes of the hills partaking of the character of clay loams. 

Near the middle (a little north of east), as well as in the south- 
western region, and in the eastern one, are considerable bodies of level 
and rolling upland piny woods. These are the best cotton soils. The 
tributaries of the Cape Fear, which rise along the south-eastern section 
of the county, are fringed with gum, cypress and juniper swamps, and 
on many of the streams, large and small, are patches, and sometimes 
considerable tracts, of alluvial "bottom" lands. The agriculture of 
the county is divided between cotton and grain crops; but the lumber 
and turpentine interests are quite important, and there are yet large 
turpentine forests untouched. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 167 

A broad belt of the "old sea-basin" runs diagonally through the 
county, having a warm, productive, but not enduring soil, and favorable 
to cotton and grain. In this belt are found valuable qualities of sand- 
stone, attractive in color, working easily, and very durable. Quarries 
of this material have been opened, and one near Carthage has attracted 
so much attention as to have enlisted large capital for its operation. 

Gold is found in considerable quantities in the western part of the 
county, and placer mining has been pursued with considerable success, 
the Cagle mines at one time attracting to them large numbers of miners 
and adventurers. Valuable quarries of millstone grit have long been 
worked and favorably known, and on the waters of Deep River are 
large deposits of finely grained and richly colored soapstone or talc. 

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Kailroad pa.sses through the 
north-eastern part of the county, and the Kaleigh and Augusta Air- 
Line passes from north-east to south-west, following nearly parallel 
with the south-eastern boundary of the county through its whole 
length, giving ample means for lran.sportation, and stimulating the 
growth of frequent villages as well as .saw-mills and turpentine dis- 
tilleries. A branch road of ten miles connects the Raleigh and Augusta 
Air-Line at Cameron with Carthage, the county seat. 

Carthage has a population of 485, Cameron of 236, Jonesboro, on the 
Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, of 541, Manly of 102, Aber- 
deen of 227, Keyser of 205, and Sanford of 367. All these are new 
villages along the lines of the railroads. 

On the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line is the settlement known as 
Southern Pines, established as a health resort for Northern invalids, 
but developed into a permanent industrial community. Li addition 
to the health and pleasure inducement, which is encouraged by elegant 
hotels, a large number of individuals have made themselves handsome 
homes, and given their attention to the cultivation of peaches and 
grapes, many hundred acres being in orchard and several hundred in 
vineyard. 

Moore County has 243,955 acrps of land, valued at 1 1,208,362, and 
2,280 town lots, valued at $223,149. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,630 horses, 1,457 mules, 4 jacks and 
jennies, 526 goats, 9,794 cattle, 21,447 hogs, and 9,923 sheep. 

Product of taxation— for State uses, |6,299.93; pensions, $895.62; 
schools, $7,168.67; countv, S9,560.66. 

Population— white, 13,985; colored, 6,494: total, 20,479. 

NASH. 

The general topographical and agricultural features of Nash County 
correspond quite closely to those of Halifax, to which its situation is 
similar. It lies south of that county, and also on the borders of the 
oak uplands, to which the western part of it belongs. It is drained, for 
the most p^rt, by the Tar River and its numerous tributaries, along 
which are narrow strips of alluvial soil, with oak forests and occasional 
cypress swamps. The divides between these streams, through the mid- 



168 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

die and eastern portions of the count}', belong to the region of level 
upland piny woods, the growth being a mixture of long-leaf and short- 
leaf pine, with oak, hickory, dogwood, etc. These soils are well adapted 
to the culture of cotton, and are of average fertility. The soils, in 
many places in the western section, are led or yellowish clay loams. 
This county lies largely within the area of the most productive cotton 
section of the State. The corn and poialo crops are also imj)ortant. 
Marl is abundant in the eastern part, but has not been extensively used. 

Tar Kiver waters this county, together with several large tributary 
creeks, and hence it has a large proportion of swamp and heavily tim- 
bered land. In the southern and western portions of the county it is 
broken and the soil red and stiff, with fome rock, well adapted to the 
growth of grain and tobacco. It grows fine cotton also. In other parts 
the soil is generally gray and the face of the country level. 

In the western, north-western and northern portions there is some 
lack of timber, except in the swamps. All the other portions are well 
timbered. The long-leaf pine, red and white and Spanish oak, hickory 
and blackjack are the leading varieties on the u[)land, and all of these 
and the water oak, cypress and gum on the lowland. 

The improved farms produce from three-fourths to one and one-fouith 
bales of cotton of 450 pounds, and from thirty to forty bushels of corn 
and twenty bushels of wheat to the acre. Ttie unimproved, from one- 
fourth 10 three-fourths bale of cotton, and froln ten to twenty bushels 
of corn. No wheat is grown on the unimproved land worthy of men- 
tion. On the red hind the grasses and clover do well. Large yields 
of peas and potatoes are grown on the gray land. If the swamp lands 
in this county were reclaimed it would be one of the wealthiest in the 
Stale. It is estimated that if this were done, enough corn could be 
raised in this county alone to supply one-half the entire State. The 
product of cotton is from 10,000 to 12,000 bales per year. 

Within the past few years there has been rapid develo{)ment in the 
cultivation of tobacco, the quality being a superior bright yellow. So 
encouraging is the industry, and so suitable the soil, that tobacco 
promises largel}^ to supetsede cotton. Markets have been established 
near at hand — that at Rock}'- Mount having assumed large proportions. 
By the census of 1890, the crop of 1889 is stated to have been 782,813 
pounds, and, though probably falling short of the reality, shows enor- 
mous gains over that of 1879, when it was only 7,502 pounds. 

The county is well provided with railroad facilities — the Wilmington 
and Weldon road running along its eastern border, with a branch from 
Rocky Mount to Tarboro, and thence to Williamston; and the Albe- 
marle and Raleigh Railroad penetrates the county as far as Springhope. 

Tar River, at its fal's near Rocky Mount, affords exhaustless water- 
power. It is here the Battle (Jotton Factor}'- was erected, about the year 
ISIG — the first cotton-mill built and operated in North Carolina — yet 
running with greatly added power and productivenes-'. 

Nash County was once famous for its apple orchards and its apple 
brandy. The orchards have fiillen into decay, and the brandy has 
little more than local rej>utation. 



DESCKIl'TION OF COUNTIES. 169 

Tlie gold fonnation which cliarae'erizes tlie north-eastern corner of 
Franklin County extends over into the adjacent territory of Nash. 
Among the mines that have been profitably worked in this county is 
the Arrington Mine. 

Nashville is the county seat, with a population of 401. Castalia has 
a population of 151); 8pringhope, of 248; Kocky Mount (the Nash por- 
tion) has a population of 480. Near this place is situated the Battle 
Cotton Factory, and in the town are tobacco sales warehouses. An 
improvement company has recently made large investments in land 
within the corporate limits, and proposes to engage in extensive enter- 
prises. 

Nash Countv has 325,708 acres of land, valued at $1,709,413; and 
397 town lots, valued at $170,400. 

Of domesiic animals there are 1,263 horses, 1,374 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 1,319 goats, 6,983 cattle, 18,586 hogs, 4,930 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State u?es, $7,18583; pensions, $1,055.77; 
schools, $9,587.44; countv, $11,696.21. 

Population— white, 12^186; coloied, 8,521; total, 20,707. 

NEW HANOVER. 

New Hanover is one of the smallest counties in the State, and consists 
of a narrow triangular wedge between the Cape Fear Kiver on the west 
and the Atlantic coast on the east, with i;s narrow fringe of sounds, 
marshes and dunes. The margins of the streams and sounds are bor- 
dered in many places by narrow strips of oak and pine flats, with a 
gray silty soil. The central portion of the county, as well as the dunes 
along the shore, are sandy and unproductive, but there are tracts of 
alluvial and swamp-land river bottoms along the Cape Fear which pro- 
duce large crops of rice. The county contains the largest city in the 
State — Wilmington. It is also the most important seaport, and has a 
large foreign as well as inland trade in lumber, naval stores and cotton, 
both by means of its railways and navigable rivers. Though now one 
of the smallest. New Hanover has always been one of the most impor- 
tant counties in the State. The existence of a good harbor, with a good 
depth of water on the bar, and not only up to the head of tide-water, 
but into which point flowed a navigable river, penetrating far back into 
the interior, a possession enjoyed alone by the inhabitants along the 
Cape Fear River; and, after several tentative efforts at town-building, 
in 1725 the site of Wilmington was permanently chosen. This is not 
the place to give the history of the town or settlement. It will suffice 
here to sav that ^Vilmington prospered; and as the trade with the 
interior, carried on by means of the Cape Fear River as far as Fayette- 
ville, and thence into the back country, not only gained in importance 
itself, but became an important factor in the development of all the 
country to which its influence extended. Wilmington, in process of 
time, became engaged in a large foreign trade, to Europe and to the 
West Indies, and it was said at one time that a cargo could be made up 
here for any port in the world. It continues to be an important port, 



170 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

with increase of trade and with growing recognition of its value as a 
coaling port and as a harbor of refuge — its position, south of all the 
dangerous capes, making it peculiarly attractive to storm-tossed seamen. 
In recognition of tiiese conditions, the General Government has made 
continued and liberal appropriations for closing up an obstructive 
inlet, for deepening the water on the bar, and for cleansing the channel 
from the bar to Wilmington, so that at spring-tides vessels drawing 
twenty-four feet of water can cross the bar. 

The lower waters of the Cape Fear are the only localities in which 
tidewater rice can be successfully cultivated, because here alone can 
the growing crop be flooded with the waters of a full fresh-water river 
in combination with the flow of the tide from the sea. Rice has there- 
fore for more than a century been cultivated here, and its culture con- 
stituted the wealth of a body of planters noted for their intelligence, 
their social culture, their intellectual force and accomplishment, their 
courage and their public spirit. 

With the exception of rice, the agricultural industry of New Hanover 
County is small. On the coast there are profitable fisheries, chiefly 
mullet, and the waters abound in oysters. 

Wilmington, the county seat, has, by the census of 1890, a population 
of 20 056. The city is situated on the east side of the Cape Fear, at the 
junction of the north-west and north-east branches of the Cape Fear 
Hiver, assuring a deep, safe and commodious harbor, vessels able to 
cross the bar coming up directly to the wharves, a distance of thirty 
miles. The harbor is resorted to by vessels of every nation and from 
all the ports of the world. The exports are chiefly cotton, cotton goods, 
timber, lumber, naval stores, and numberless miscellaneous goods. 
Cotton is largely exported to European ports, chiefly in steamers. Naval 
stores are mostly transported in Norwegian and German vessels of the 
class of barks. Domestic or coastwise trade is carried on by lines of 
steamers and large schooners. 

There are annual fluctuations in business from various causes. The 
President of the Chamber of Commerce, for the year 1891, makes the 
following statement: 

I regret to note a falling off in the receipts of the principal articles of commerce at 
this port. For the year ending March 31. 1892, they have been as follows : 

Rosin, 294,520 barrels, against 366,502 barrels last year ; spirits turpentine. 68.999 
casks, against 67,785 casks last year; tar, 68.798 barrels, against 66,324 barrels last 
year; crude turpentine, 13,924 barrels, against 18.201 barrels last vear : cotton (from 
September 1, 1891), 153,590 bales, against 182,648 bales last year. The exports of 
lumber have been 26,115.927 feet, against 38,660,262 feet last year, but as the receipts 
of timber have been larger, it is probable that an increase in local consumption and 
inland shijunents has fully compensated for this loss. 

The faUing off in naval stores is ])rincipally caused by the gradual natural exhaus- 
tion of tlie ])ine forests contiguous to this market, but it is a matter of regret that an 
increase in cotton business has not compensated for that loss, and the present dejtressed 
state of the cotton trade, which only a decreased production can cure, warns us that 
we cannot look to that industry to increase our trade for some years to come. 

Wilmington has one large cotton factory, a wood and basket factory, 
numerous steam saw-mills, rice-mills, oil-mills, planitig-mills, etc., etc., 
and has electric and gas lighting, water-works, electric street railway. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 171 

opera-house, a costly Young Men's Christian Aifsociation building, 
numerous costly churches, beautifully arranged and adorned cemeteries, 
handsome and costly government buildings, and all that is needed for 
the comfort, health and convenience of a city, 

Wilmington is the focal point of the Wilmington and Weldon Rail- 
road, of the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad, of the Cape 
Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, of the Carolina Central, of the 
Wilmington and Onslow Railroad, and of the Sea Coast road, and also 
of a regular line of steamers to New York. 

New Hanover County has 87,123 acres of land, valued at $447,235, 
and town lots valued at S3,373,6G6. 

Of domestic animals there are 701 horses, 201 mules, 4S7 goats, 2,037 
cattle, 3,556 hogs, and 76 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $20,355.96; pensions, $1,944.50; 
schools, $26,999.53; county, $34,217.81. 

Population— white, 10,089; colored, 13,937 ; total, 24,026. 

NORTHAMPTON. 

Northampton County is situated between the Virginia border and 
the Roanoke River. Its soils belong to the general region of level piny 
uplands, merging toward the western limit into oak uplands and a 
more hilly surface, with an elevation of 150 feet above sea-level. Its 
numerous streams have general fringes of oak flats, alluvions, or gum 
and cypress swamps, and the Roanoke River has in its extensive 
" bottoms" some of the best corn lands in the State. 

The product of cotton in Northampton is large in view of its rela- 
tively high latitude, reaching annually between 10,000 and 15,000 bales. 
Corn has always been a leading crop, especially on the rich lands of 
the Roanoke, which, however, are seriously exposed to the disasters of 
overflow. Onlv a small quantity of tobacco is now reported as being 
cultivated— 5,879 in 1889 against 20,484 in 1879. 

Northampton County is connected by railway by the Petersburg and 
Weldon Railroad with Petersburg, Va., and by the Seaboard and 
Roanoke road with Portsmouth, Va., and it has good navigation down 
the Roanoke from the falls below Weldon. The first railroads built in 
North Carolina passed through this county. 

Jackson, the county seat, has 750 inhabitants, Rich Square 643, and 
Woodland 247. 

Northampton County has 317,453 acres of land, valued at $1,779,513, 
and 226 town lots, valued at $116,175. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,913 horses, 1,056 mules, 2 jacks and 
jennies, 181 goats, 7,538 cattle, 17,655 hogs, and 3,147 sheep. 

Product of taxatii'U — for State use, $7,202.77; pensions, $1,025.62; 
schools, $8,010.71 ; county, $8,449.76. 

Population— white, 9,224; colored, 12,018; total, 21,242. 



172 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



ONSLOW. 

Onslow County resembles in large degree the adjoining counties of 
Carteret and Jones. Nearly one-halt' of the White Oak .Swamp lies in 
its northern section, and from it flow m st of the streams by wliich the 
county is drained. The best agricultural lands of the county lie along 
the margin of this swamp. A great j^art of it is drained southward 
into New River, which traverses the entire length of the county from 
north to south. This river, for one-half of iis length, is a broad, navi- 
gable bay, from one to two miles wide, and is famous for its fine oysters 
and fish. On both sides of it are large tracts of upland piny woods, 
with a gray sandy soil, which are admirably adapted to tiie production 
of cotton. Nearer the sea-coast and its fringe of sounds the soils are 
more sandy, and are covered with long-leaf pines as their principal 
growth, a similar large tract occupying its north-western section. There 
are numerous narrow fringes of cypress swamps along the various 
streams. A portion of the south-western side of this county is pene- 
trated by the Holly Shelter pocoson. The productions of this county 
are similar to those of Jones. 

Jones and Onslow were settled earh' in the eighteenth century by 
French Huguenots and (larman Palatinates; their descendants to this 
day are fine types of botli races; and the names of tlieir ancestors are 
still preserved in their families. There is a large body of land lying 
in these two counties known as the White Oak Swamp. It covers an 
area of eight3^-six thousand acres. It is one of the heaviest timbered 
tracts in the Atlantic States. The oaks are of huge dimensions, unknown 
in northern climes; the pines are of enormous girth, and frequently 
attain a height of one. hundred and fifty feet; the poplars and cypress 
are also of huge dimensions. The soil is as fertile as the best lands of 
Hyde County, and they are classed as the most enduring and richest 
lands in the United States. This bjdv of swamp lands belong to the 
State. 

The coasts of Onslow are lined with the " Banks," from which the}' 
are separated by sounds of from a mile to two miles in width, and of 
depth only navigable for small vessels. Through these banks, generally 
opposite a stream making out from the mainland, there is a break or 
inlet, with a shifting bar of from five to six feet deep, and through this 
is access to the inner waters. Within the bars and up these streams is 
the great store of fish and oysters now engaging public attention and 
the care of legislation. 

The soil of Onslow is productive in cotton, corn, peas, potatoes, and 
is especially favorable to the perfection of the ground-pea or nut, which, 
in the decomposed shelly soils in the vicinity of the coast, claims the 
chief attention of the farmers and constitutes the most profitable crop. 

The Wilmington, Onslow and East Carolina Railroad connects Wil- 
mington and Jacksonville. It is 5o miles long, and may be extended 
to Newbern. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 173 

Jacksonville, the county seat, contains 170 inhabitants and Kichlands 
192. 

Onslow County has 285,186 acres of land, valued at $824,613, and 
100 town lots, valued at $33,240. 

Of domestic animals there are 710 horses, 588 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 295 goats, 6,406 cattle, 191,718 hogs, 4,061 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State uses, ^3,450.71; pensions, $521.73; 
schools, $4,690.91 ; county, $3,963.40. 

Population— white, 7,392; colored, 2,911 ; total, 10,303. 

ORANGE. 

Orange County, historically, is one of the most interesting counties 
in the Slate. It was formed about the year 1752, and its healthfulness 
and the richness of its soil soon made it populous and prosperous. It 
took very decided part in the troubles that led to Tryon's suppression 
of the opposition of the Regulators, and also in the war of the Revolu- 
tion. It was in this county that Lord Cornwallis prepared himself for 
the struggle at Guilford Court House; and it was at its county seat 
(Hillsboro) that the convention to discuss the Constitution submitted to 
the States for ratification was held ; and for generations the county was 
noted for the prominence of its public men. 

This county is at an elevation of about 600 feet above the sea. The 
climate is remarkably healthy and free from malaria. The winters are 
very mild and the summers are not oppressive. The county is rolling, 
and is well drained by natural streams. The products are corn, wheat 
oats, cotton, rye, barley, grass, tobacco and potatoes. The soil is espe- 
cially adapted to the raising of fine-grade tobacco, of wheat, of hay and 
potatoes. Cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and goats are easily raised and 
thrive here. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, plums and figs grow in the 
greatest abundance and of fine quality. There is a large and growing 
industry in drying fruits and in shipping them alfo fresh to the North- 
ern markets. Deposits of gold and iron are very abundant all through 
the county. The Iron Mountain, near Chapel Hill, contains inexhausti- 
ble ores of excellent quality. Soapstone and whetstone quarries of the 
finest grain exist in large deposits. 

The south-eastern seciion of the county is drained b}' the tributaries 
of the Cape Fear River, and has a low, undulating tract of land; with 
gray and yellow sandy and clay loam soils and mixed oak and pine 
forests. The larger part of this county is characterized by oak forests 
and red-clay soils, with an intermixture in the poorer sections and on 
the slaty hills of short leaf pine. The region described as slate hills is 
characterized mainly by a gray gravelly loam soil. Cotton is cultivated 
to considerable extent, the crop reaching about 2,000 bales a year. It 
has long had pre-eminence, along with that of Anson County, of being 
the best upland cotton raised in the United States. Tobacco is a large 
and valuable crop, much of it being " bright yellow." The crop of 1889 
is given in the census returns of 1890 at 782,713 pounds. 

The University of North Carolina is located at Chapel Hill, in this 
county. 



174 HA3fl>-BC«OK; OF XOBTH CAKOLIS'A. 

Tbe yortii Carolinfi : -ses throngb the county, and from it, 

hi Jlaixeri: ^ - often miies extends 10 Cha|:»el HilL 

The sitt- — - ; the Xeuse. Euo and Little River — 

are small dui af _ - waicr-power. New Hof»e is an affluent of 
Haw Rirer. 

HilM>oro, the c^untr 9eat. has a population of &d'2. Chapel Hill, 
tt- - - --' -'■- ---.-:'- has 1,027. 

- -"25 acres of land, valued at $1,(^40,291); and 

-- :ire 1.782 horses, 804 mules, 7 jacks and 

jenni^ l2i goals, 4,osl cattle, 7,670 hogs, 4,o83 sheep. 

Prodnct of Taxation — for Sta'e use, $5.24<j.24: pensions. $734.44; 
schools. f5.o33.<>4: county, $5/>39.€;2 

Poftulation— white. 9,705 : colored, 5,2-43 : total, 14,943. 

PAMLICO. 

This county was formed from the counlies of Craven and Beaufort 
It is pei>etrated to the interior by an arm of Pamlico Sound calle^i B-iy 
River, and also by a stream (Broad Cre^k^ both navigable for vessels 
draiwing eight feet of water. Ii is washed on the soutli side by tiie 
wateis of Neuse River, on the east by the Pamlico Sound, and on ihe 
Bonh by Pamlico River. By far the larger j«orti<»n of the county is in 
forest thea-e being only about one-ten ih of the land under culiivation, 
The lands are of the same character as those of Craven County. There 
ar- racts of unreclaimed swamp that can be easily drained, 

a- . 'eat • 'I'fter; the fail L? thiry lo forty feet The farms are 

g- of the jrees. There is no f»art 

o: ..-. :-,.-. - ._.. — . . : ,-_ - greatt-: : ;- for farmers than Pam- 

lieo County. The land is rich, abundant and ch-ap, and ihe facilities 
for transfKjrtation. either coastwise or to Newbem, are go»>d The crops 
are cotton cm, oats, ric*' and fkotatoes The pine forests are coTjpara- 
tively ed. T press, holly and gum are 

:uj"r:- - are as } • _ ■ .. 

r-e are three flounshmg villages situated on Bay River — Stone- 
■ 'oro and Vandemere. Bayboro is the county seat and has a 
y of 252. 

has no ' ' \ ' - . , >n alto- 

PT' ' ster. . -. for its 

^d estuary of Bay River nearly 
■—' ■ .- .. _... .. - .: J for its fine oystens, and all the 

- in fish. 

— ^ ^ ' ' i' acres of land, value! at $324,751 : and 
1'. ^. '■]. 

■ i> horees, 241 mules, 253 goats, 4,376 

— lor .^tate use. IL633.78; pensions. $266.16; 
flc - -v.: ...ntv, $4,092,93. 

on— white, 4,7*67: colored, 2.379: total, 7,146. 



\ 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 175 



PASQUOTANK. 

Pasquotank is a long, narrow strip of territory paralli-1 to Camden 
County, and is of similar topographical situation and agricultural 
features. It is bordered eastward and westward by two bay-like arms 
of the sound, Pasqu^'tank Kiver and Li; tie River, both of which take 
their rise in the Great Dismal ."^wamp. The upper and middle portions, 
there'ore, belonii to the general description of swampy land and semi- 
swamps. Near the streams there are generally strips of swamp proper, 
with gum, cypress and juniper forests, but farther from them are ^emi- 
swamps and oak and pine flais, with oak, hickory, short-leaf pine, ash, 
maple, black gum, and holly. These lauds are of gre t feitihty. The 
southern end of the peninsula on the sound is, as usual, sandy, piny 
woods. Much cotton is produced, and lumbering s ill c nstitutes an 
item of consequence, as also in all the-e Albemarle counties. Truck 
farming is also assuming large proportions, and the raising of early 
pota'oes for the Northern market has recently b come one ot the most 
profitable iudu-tries. All these Albemarle countie-! have unlimited 
facilities for transportation through their numerous bays, rivers, and 
sounds which are connected with Norf-dk harbor through the Dismal 
Swamp and the Currituck canals, and als'» by railway. 

The great water facili ies possessed by Pa.squotank County, the exist- 
ence of railroad communication, and also canal navigation through the 
Dismal Sv^'amp. both to Xorlolk, an l thence to tiie Northern cities, 
together with the favor of soil and climate, have given great impetus 
to truck farming, which, at many points, has superseded other agricul- 
tural interests. The sime facilities of trans[)'>rtation give activity to the 
business of shipping fish on ice, and during the fishing season the 
animation is unceasing. 

Elizabeth City, the county sea', has a population of 3,251. Favor- 
ably situa ed on Pasquotank River, at the head of the navigation of 
the sounds, also .-it the southern end of the Dismal Swamp Canal, and 
being traversed by the railroad from Norfolk to Edenton. it pos-e-ses 
advantages it is prompt to improve. Its commerce is large, and its 
lumber and fishing is very great, and the trucking business is likewise 
active. 

Pasquotank County has 1 18.772 acres of land, valued at §600,946, 
and 598 town lots, valued at §403,041. 

Of domestic aniin;ds there are 1,393 horses, 392 mules, 309 goats, 
4,526 cattle, 9,325 hogs, 1 644 sheep. 

Produ t of taxation — for State use, §4.4J0 54; pensions. S556.22; 
schools, §5,687.57: county, §9,594.47. 

Population — white, 5,201; colored, 5,547; total, 10,748. 

PENDER. 

Pender County is bounded in part on the south by the Atlantic 
Ocean, with its fringe of sounds, marshes, and dunes, and is drained 
southward by the waters of the Northeast Cape Fear River. Holly 



176 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Shelter pocosoii occupies a large part of the south-eastern section, and 
from it flow numerous creeks into the above mentioned river, while 
others flow directly into the Atlantic. The central portion and larger 
part of this great pocoson, which contains about 100 square miles, is 
quite barren, but around its margin, especially toward the river, are 
considerable tracts of white-oak flats, canebrake, and swamp lands, 
with their characteristic growths and soils. In the north-eastern section 
lies the half of another similar pocoson nearly as large, called Angola 
Ba}', and in the centre of the western half of the county is a third but 
much smaller swamp of the same general character. The western side 
of the county for the breadth of from six to eight miles belongs to the 
region of upland piny woods, the principal growth being long-leaf 
pines, with an undergrowih of oaks, hickory, dogwood, etc., and a sandy 
soil; but some of it approaches the character of the regular "sand- 
hills," with pine and oak flats here and there. Along the streams aie 
generally alluvial belts or swainps and oak flats, which are the corn 
lands of tlie county. A savannah of several square miles is found in 
the upper end of the county, which merges northward into a barren 
pocoson of still greater extent. Marl abounds in all parts of the county, 
and eocene limestone is found along the principal river above named. 
These add greatly to its agricultural advantages. 

The cotton product is inconsiderable; the remaining products are 
corn, rice, potatoes, lumber and naval stores. 

The presence of marl and of the eocene limestone, especially along 
the western margin of the Northeast River, is indicated by the vigorous 
forest growth of hardwood trees, and, when they are removed, by the 
generous response of the soil to cultivation. The locality known as 
Rocky Point very early drew attention to it from its exuberant fertility, 
and for more than a century and a-half has been noted for its exhaust- 
less productiveness. In recent years this section of Pender County has 
been advantageously applied to truck ftirming in all its branches, early 
vegetables of all kinds, small fruits and berries maturing at a period 
so early as to bring them on the Northern markets in quick succession 
to the early crops of Georgia and South Carolina. 

The Wilmington and AVeldon Railroad passes through the county 
from north to south, and the North-west and North-east branches of the 
Cape Fear River, and Black River, provide ample avenues for trans- 
portation. 

Burgaw, the county seat, has a population of 366, and Point Caswell 
and Lillington, villages, have respectively populations of 127 and SO. 

Pender County has 341,289 acres of land, valued at $835,851 ; and 
265 town lots, valued at S38,600. 

Of domestic animals there are 550 horses, 414 mules, 4 jacks and 
jennies, 6,023 cattle, 18,303 hogs, 4,360 sheep, and 708 goats. 

Product of taxation — for State purposes, ^3,164.83; pensions, §475.70; 
schools, $3,054.42; county, §3,807.35. 

Population — white, 5,067; colored, 6,547; total, 12,514. 



DESCRII'TIOX OF COUNTIES. 177 



PERQUIMANS. 



Perquimans County is in every respect twin to Pasquotank, and 
northward it extends into the Great Dismal Swamp. A considerable 
percentage of the surface of Perquimans is occupied by what is com- 
monly called swamp land, though for the most part it is drainable and 
cultivatable. These swamp lands, which are better described as semi- 
swamps and oak and pine flats, are a repetition of those before described, 
and have a similar soil, which varies from a fine gray loam to a dark 
mucky soil of high fertility. Along the Perciuimans Kiver, which is 
an arm of Albemarle Sound, lie in a south-easterly direction narrow 
zones of cypress swamps, beyond which, northward and southward, are 
narrow tracts of sandy soil, with forests mainly of long- leaf pine. These 
long-leaf pine tracts, which occupy the divides between the streams, 
project, in the form of promontories, into the margin of the sound. 
These promontories, extending between sheets of navigable water, 
deeply indenting the land, offer uncommon facilities to the farmer, who 
has transportation for his produce so ready at hand, and the richness 
of the soil and mildness of the climate assures him of large returns for 
his labor. The numerous waterways, and the passage of the railroad 
through such an extent of the county, has greatly promoted the truck- 
ing business, the market of New York being at no greater distance than 
is overcome in a trip of twenty-four hours. The same facilities favor 
the fishing interests. The shores of all the rivers, bays and creeks 
abound with shad, herring, rock-bass and other fish. 

Hertford, the county seat, has a population of 733. 

Perquimans County has 138,847 acres of land, valued at $6S7;120; 
and 265 town lots, valued at $101,840. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,217 horse, 564 mules, 1 jack, 259 
goats, 5,254 cattle, 10,494 hogs, and 2,768 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $3,566.50; pensions, $517.65; 
schools, $5,020.71 ; county, §3,798.70. 

Population— white, 4,719; colored, 4,574; total, 9,293. 

PERSON. 

Person County lies outside of the cotton belt, and belongs to the 
bright tobacco zone. Near the middle of it rise several low mountain 
ridges of granite and slate, with oak and pine forests. Tiiese attain 
an altitude of about 1,000 feet (the general elevation being from 600 to 
700 feet), and have a thin gravelly and sandy soil, while the other sec- 
tions are alternately of this character and of red-clay soils of greater 
fertility. To the latter class belong especially the north-western and 
south-eastern sections. The chief agricultural interest is the produc- 
tion of tobacco of a high grade, in which industry this is one of the 
leading counties. To this crop the light sandy soils are peculiarly 
adapted. These light soils produce that high-priced grade known as 
bright yellow, and in this is surpassed by no other county in the State. 
12 



178 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The southern side of the county most abounds in these soils, but in the 
northern section, among the high rolHng lands of Hyco and Country 
Line Creeks, the product is equally abundant and in no way inferior. 
The crop for 1889 is given by the census at 2,327,201 pounds. Wheat, 
corn and other grains thrive. 

The mineral riches of the county are confined to copper, mines of 
which are found in the north-eastern corner of the county and extend- 
ing over into Granville, and are believed to be of great value. Iron 
ores of value are found in the vicinity of Mt. Tirzah, and have been 
turned to profitable account, especially during the war, when they sup- 
plied castings for household and farm use. 

The elevation of Person County assures it as the fountain-head of the 
tributaries to the Neuse and Tar Rivers, and to streams fiowiug north- 
ward into the Dan. 

The Durham and Lynchburg Railroad passes through the county, 
providing needed facilities for transportation. 

Roxboro, the county seat, had, by the census of LS90, a population of 
421; but there has been rapid increase since its acquirement of railroad 
communication. It is now the seat of important tobacco factories, sales 
warehouses and other evidences of newl\^ created business. 

Person County has 203,423 acres of land, valued at $1,016,218; and 
81 town lots, valued at $73,150. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,778 horses, 890 mules, 10 jacks and 
jennies, 47 goats, 4,183 cattle, 7,547 hogs, 3.302 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $4,799.99: pensions, $711.38; 
schools, $5,834.4(5; county, $5,659.30. 

Population — white, 8,251; colored, 6,900; total, 15,151. 

PITT. 

This county lies west of the county of Beaufort, and is penetrated its 
whole length by Tar River, which is navigable at all seasons for light- 
draft steamers. The soil is extremely varied, probably more so than in 
any other county of the Pamlico section. In the eastern part on the 
soufh side of the Tar River, adjoining Beaufort County, the soil ma}'^ 
be characterized as a light sandy loam, with a greyish clay subsoil. In 
the upper part, or rather the north-we?tern j)art, the soil is generally 
underlaid with a stiff red clay; immediately on the left or the north 
side of Tar River, the lands lying along the river the entire length of 
the county east and west, are of a more distinctive character, of a light 
sandy loam. Farther north, toward the Martni County line, they assume 
a different character, are what may be classed as a heavy loam. There 
are also bodies of swamp lands cleared that partake of the fertility 
characteristic of that class of lands in Eastern Carolina. The soil 
appears to the observer to run in streaks, and the lines of demarcation 
are distinctly marked. Their general character is that of fertility, and 
easy of tillage. They yield excellent crops of cotton, corn, oats and 
rye. In the last century tobacco was one of the great staples on Tar 
River. Within a brief period the cultivation of tobacco has been 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 179 

resumed, and promises to assume large proportions, the quality being 
very desirable, and the conditions of soil and climate very favorable. 
Cotton is at present the most important crop, the annual yield being 
from 12,000 to 16,000 bales. The land is productive in every other sub- 
ject of culture — corn, whtat, rice, peas, potatoes — and the whole soil being 
underlaid with marl, perpetual fertility is assured. Fruits thrive lux- 
uriantly, and nowhere is the grape more prolific or more certain in its 
yield. The finest varieties of native grapes have originated here, 
among them that new choice variety of the ]''itis Vulpma, the James 
grape, a black variety of the scuppernong, but larger and better flavored, 
and bearing transportation better. 

Pitt County is supplied with water transportation by Tar River, 
which passes through its centre, and by Contentnea Creek, which washes 
its southern border, the navigation of which has been opened by the 
General Government. 

A railroad from Weldon via Scotland Neck, a branch of the Wil- 
mington and Weldon Railroad, passes through Greenville, with its 
present terminus at Kinston. 

Greenville, the county seat, is situated on Tar River, and has the 
benefit of steamboat navigation, and has a population of 1,937. 

Pitt County has 3G9,59S acres of land, valued at 31,795,162, and 534 
town lots, valued at $270,642. 

Of domestic animals there are 2,181 horses, 1,625 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 1,172 goats, 8,371 cattle, 24,778 hogs, and 1,722 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $8,917.78; pensions, $1,288.84; 
schools, $10,882.47; county, $7,224.21. 

Population— white, 13,192; colored, 12,327; total, 25,519. 

POLK. 

Polk is the southernmost of the Piedmont counties, lying upon the 
border of South Carolina, and of the cotton belt, which barely enters 
its south-eastern corner. Three-fourths of the territory of the county 
is very mountainous, as it is bounded westward by the Blue Ridge, and 
its western and northern sections are penetrated by heavy and long 
spurs, thrown out from that range, of equal height or greater. It is 
crossed from west to east and nearly its entire territory is drained by 
the waters of Green River, one of the principal tributaries of the Broad. 
Along this river valley, as well as on some of the tributarid's, are wide 
stretches of bottom lands of clay and sandy loams. The middle part 
of the county is a somewhat broken plateau of 1,000 feet elevation, and 
has a gravelly and slaty soil of a light color and loose texture and low 
fertility, and inferior forests of pine, oak, and chestnut. The south- 
eastern section is of the same character. A large part of the uplands 
and of the mountain slopes in the west and north has forests largely of 
oak and a yellowish or gray loamy soil of good quality. In the higher 
parts, except where the soil is of the better grades, chestnut and chest- 
nut oak are abundant. The principal agricultural pursuit is the pro- 
duction of grain crops. There are several gold mines in the middle 
and southern sections. 



180 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The cotton crop of the county does not exceed 500 bales yearly. 
Grains and fruits are tlie chief objects of industrial pursuit. The most 
famous of the thermal belts lies in this county, and is largely engaging 
the attention of orchardists and vignerons. The climate is regarded as 
favorable in pulmonary weakness, and health resorts have been estab- 
lished at several points, notably at Tryon City and Saluda. 

The county is traversed by the Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad. 

Columbus is the county seat. 

Polk County has 140,470 acres of land, valued at §506,o32, and 208 
town lots, valued at §54,400. 

Of domestic animals there are 423 horses, 440 mules, 5 jacks and 
jennies, 31 goats, 3,221 cattle, 5,921 hogs, and 1,680 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $2,151.15; pensions, $312.38; 
schools, $2,215.13; county, $2,679.52. 

Population — white, 4,807; colored, 1,005; total, 5,902. 

RANDOLPH. 

This county, in general profile, is an inclined plane, dipping south- 
ward, and making a descent of more than 400 feet from an altitude of 
about 800 feet on the north to an altitude of 300 or 400 feet on the 
south, a rate of fourteen or fifteen feet per mile. The surface is diver- 
sified by subordinate plains and extensive hilly districts, and marked in 
the west and south-west by enormous hills that " approach the measure 
and dignit}-^ of mountains." The most important of the physical fea- 
tures are the two river basins that extend from north to south across 
the county in nearly parallel dei)ressions. The Deep River basin com- 
prises most of the northern and all of the eastern portion of the county — 
Deep River entering the county near the middle of the northern 
boundary and running a tortuous course to the south-east corner of the 
county. The Uwharrie basin occupies the western side, the Uwharrie 
River running parallel to the western boundary, and only a few miles 
from it. Both of the above-named rivers have numerous and large 
tributaries, fed by bold and constant si)ring3, which afibrd an ample 
water-supply during the longest droughts. Between these two river 
basins is the divide, or water-shed, extending from the north-west corner 
to the centre of the county, thence southward into Moore and Mont- 
gomery. 

The wesCern and southern 'sections of the county are characterized by 
the occurrence of sharp ridges and hills of slate, with light-gray, sandy, 
gravelly soil ; but the upper portion is much less broken, and consists 
of broad, flattish swells, which constitute the divides between the upper 
waters of the Haw, Deep and Uwluirrie rivers, the latter being one of 
the tributaries of the Yadkin. The soils of this portion of the county 
are, for the most part, gray, gravelly loams, alternated here and there 
with red-clay lands. Cotton is produced in only a small })art of the 
southern half of the county, the production of small grains constituting 
its principal agricultural feature. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 181 

Agriculture is the leading industry in the county. The bottom lands 
along the water-courses, and the adjacent coves and hills, are naturally 
very productive, ranking among tlie best farming lands on the Atlantic 
slope, while the uplands possess a fair degree of fertility, and return 
generous results under improved methods of cultivation. 

This great variety of soil — the alluvial bottoms, the clayey slopes, 
the rocky hills, and the sandy plains — gives rise to great variet}' in the 
productions of the county. It may be safely said that Randolph can 
produce successful)}' and profitably everything that can be produced in 
ihe State. It can produce the rice, peanut, cotton and sweet potato of 
the east and the grains, grasses, fruits and tine tobacco of the west. 

The range of hills, known as the Uwharrie Mountains, in the south- 
western part of the county, constitute a part of the same formation so 
prolific in the adjoining county of Montgomery in gold; and this metal 
has been produced in several mines of note in Randolph, and has long 
been an object of unsystematic search. 

The county is traversed b}'' Deep River, and as that stream cuts 
through the high hills which become, as they roll away to the south, 
the Uwharrie Mountains, provide great water-power, applied to nine 
cotton factories, which have been prosperously at work for many years. 
These factories are now made accessible both b}' railroad from High 
Point, on the North Carolina road, and from a point on the Cape Fear 
and Yadkin Valley road. 

Trinity College, in the north-west corner of the county, was founded 
in 1842 by Rev. B. Craven, D.D. It is now in process of removal to 
Durham. 

The county is touched on the north-west corner by the North Caro- 
lina Railroad, and on the north-east corner by the Cape Fear and 
Yadkin Valley road, and is penetrated by the branches of those roads 
already referred to. The first-named branch extends to Asheboro, the 
county seat, which has a population of 510. Randleman has a popu- 
lation of 1,754; Worthville, of 328; Archdale, of 224; Trinity, of 380; 
and Liberty, of 366. Franklinsville and Ramseur, considerable vil- 
lages, have their populations included in the returns of their townships. 

Randolph County has 453,469 acres of land, valued at $2,058,134; 
and 535 town lots, valued at $164,194. 

Of domestic animals there are 3,115 horses, 2,164 mules, 17 jacks and 
jennies, 200 goats, 12,020 cattle, 22,121 hogs, and 16,537 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $9,266.60; pensions, $1,370.18; 
schools, $11,863.24; county, $921.73. 

Population— white, 21,848; colored, 3,347 ; total, 25,195. 

RICHMOND. 

Richmond County also lies on the border of the long-leaf pine belt, 
its eastern and southern portions (forming not less than three-fourths 
of its territory) belonging to the latter, while its western and northern 
parts, lying along and near the Great Pee Dee River, belong more 
properly, in their agricultural features, to the zone of oak and pine 



182 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

sandy hills, being quite hilly and in some places rugged. The slopes 
of the hills on the river front and its tributaries are quite steep and 
broken, and have a clay loam soil, which is covered by oak and short- 
leaf pine forests. In the north-western corner, on the Pee Dee and its 
tributaries, are wide tracts of level gray loam soils, originally covered 
with heavy oak forests. Through the eastern portion of the county, in 
a north and south direction, lies a considerable tract of pine barrens, 
which is very sandy and unproductive. The streams which drain the 
south-eastern section of the count}' (one-third of its territory) flow into 
Lumber River, and are margined through their whole course by allu- 
vial tracts and cypress swamps, the divides between these parallel and 
south-flowing streams being occupied by level upland piny-woods tracts 
having a gray sandy loam soil of fair productiveness. Cotton is the 
chief single interest, but the product of grain is large, and the turpen- 
tine and lumber interests are still important, though there has been 
rapid diminution, almost extirpation, of the pine forests along the lines 
of the railroads, where saw-mills were erected at every convenient point. 

No county presents more striking contrasts in its soils, timbers and 
productions than does Richmond County. Its eastern and south-eastern 
sections are interlaced with swamps, but readily drained, and produc- 
tive in cotton and corn. The centre and part of the south is pine bar- 
ren, with no invitation to agricultural work, while the northern and 
western sections are hilly, with a red or rocky gray soil. These last, 
especially such as lie along the Pee Dee, are the most productive cotton 
lands, and in the production of this staple the county has long held 
high rank, the product being from 12,000 to 15,000 bales annually. 
The streams which originate in the pine lands and tend towards the 
Pee Dee River, at Rockingham encounter a sudden and violent change 
of geological formation — encounter ledges of rock, precipitate them- 
selves below in lofty cascades, and give that commanding water-power 
which has concentrated at Rockingham five large cotton factories. 

Rockingham, the county seat, is situated immediately on the line of 
division between the sandy and the red-clay lands. It is important as 
the seat of the factories above referred to. It has a population of 3,374, 
including Rockingham township and Great Falls village. Laurinburg, 
on the Carolina Central Railroad, has a population of 1,357. 

The Carolina Central road, connecting Wilmington and Charlotte, 
passes through the county ; the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line road 
has its terminus at Hamlet, and from the same point the Palmetto road 
extends to Cheraw, S. C, and also from Hamlet a railroad extends to 
Gibson, with ultimate terminus at Bennettsville, S. C. 

Richmond County has 446,188 acres of land, valued at $1,206,761 ; 
and 478 town lots, valued at $220,551. 

Of domestic animals it has 1,155 horses, 1,996 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 592 goats, 4,699 cattle, 10,988 hogs, and 1,493 .sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $7,270.29; pensions, $1,051.44; 
schools, $9,021.16: countv, $12,710.24. 

Population— white, 10,989; colored, 12,559; total, 23,948. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 18^ 

ROBESON. 

The soils of Robeson County are mainly those of the ordinary level 
piny woods, but there are belts of gum and cypress swamp along nearly 
all of its water-courses, those on the two main streams being quit^ large 
The county is drained by the upper waters of Lumber River, which 
enters the Atlantic through the State of South Caro ina at Georgetown 
On the higher divides between the streams the soil is sometimes quite 
sandy in some places reaching the character of pine barrens. The 
andJ'are chiefly devoted to the culture of cotton and -rnbut^.e value 
of the potato and rice crops is quite considerable. Tiiipentine and 
kimber^are also large interests. Marl is found abundantly in the lower 

''"lot'on is" nmv'the largest county in the State. From its extreme 
northern limit, where it meets the counties of Cumberland and Rich- 
mond! to its southern boundary, near Fair Bluff, m Columbiis County, 
U is nearlv seventy miles long, while its mean breadthis from twenty- 
five to ? iirty miles. Much of the county is covered with swamps, the 
numerous streams being all margined with or hid away ^n a dense 
^ owth of cvpress, gum and other woods, but accessible to dramap 
!nd! when dVLed?producing good crops of. cotton, corn and rice^ Bu 
the principal object of drainage is to obtain access to the timber tor 
makmg shingles, staves, etc., obtained from cypress and ^uniper.^^ The 
black ?um abounds in these swamps. Of this wood it is sad . ihis 
timbei has never been developed. It cannot be split-not even by 
"htning In its green state it is heavy and soft; when seasoned it is 

he strongest and lightest wood we know of, equaling hickory m strength 
Ind surplssiug it if. lightness. It is specially adapted to the ina.ui^^^^^^ 

ture of tool-handles, wagon-tongues, coupling-poles, etc. It is suitable 

^Sm^nsirpSifs^i^marl are found underlying the great swamps, 
a sL^gestive cause of their fertility when drained These swamps di- 
ehard great quantities water into the streams that empty into Winyal 
Bay^South Carolina, and have been the channels thix)ugh which vast 
quantities of timber and other products of the State have been aken 
Wnd its borders. The construction of railroads has diminished that 
current of trade. The most extensively pursued avocation is that con- 
nected with the products of the forest-timber, lumber, shingles, staves, 

'"Xttonl';tdted to the extent of about 10,000 bales annually 
The crops of corn and some other of the grains are large, and great 
quantities of peas and sweet potatoes are made. About a million and 
a half pounds of rice are made on the beds of drained swamps or along 
marshy borders of streams. The country is suitable to most of the 
S and especially the native varieties of the grape. The Flowers 
grape, a sport of the F. Vhnfera, and very much prized for its wine- 
making qualities, originated here. 



184 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The upper part of the county received a large share of tliat Scotch 
immigration which followed the defeat at CuUoden in 1746. The mid- 
dle and southern portions of the county contain large numbers of mixed 
breed, in which Indian blood predominates. It is asserted that they 
are the descendants of the lost colony of Capt. John White, which, 
despairing of help from its founder, united its fortunes with the Croataa 
Indians, and eventually ended its wanderings in Robeson County. The 
State of North Carolina provides distinct schools for these people under 
the name of Croat ans. 

The Carolina Central Railroad i)asses through the county, and also 
the Bennettsville (S. C.) branch of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley, 
and the Short-cut stem of the Wilmington and Weldon road, connect- 
ing Wilson, X. C, and Florence, S. C. 

Lumberton, the county seat, on Lumber River, has a population, bj'' 
the census of 1890, of 584, and Maxton of G94. 

Robeson County has 062,411 acres of laud, valued at $2,110,177 ; and 
442 town lots, valued at $248,076. 

Of domestic animals there are— hor.ses, 1,821 ; mules, 2,549 ; jacks, 1 ; 
goats, 1,595; cattle, 9,704; hog.s, 38,089; sheep, 6,678. 

Product of taxation— for State use, $9,901.42; pensions, $1,428.36; 
schools, $11,864.32; county, $11,955.27. 

Population — white, 16,6:19; colored, including Croatans, 14,854; total, 
31,483. 

ROCKINGHAM. 

Rockingham is a border county, and belongs to the famous bright 
tobacco belt. It; is traversed in a northeasterly course by the waters of 
the Dan River, and its southern section is drained by the upper tribu- 
taries of the Cape Fear (Haw) River. The north-western corner of 
this county, constituting about one-third of its territory, near the Vir- 
ginia line and north of the Dan River, consists for the most part of 
elevated flatfish ridges and swells having gray, yellow, gravelly loam 
soils, while ty<e southern and eastern two-thirds of the county consist 
of alternating belts of these loams and of red clays. Besides tobacco, 
in which this county ranks second, large crops of grain are produced. 
Dan River, with its tributaries, furnishes abundant water-power, and 
the former stream is navigable in a small way for flatboats. A bed of 
semi-bituminous coal, three feet in thickness, and of good quality, out- 
crops in the eastern section, but it has been but little mined. 

This is one of the largest of the tobacco producing counties— the 
larger portion of it, even on the heavier bottoms of the Dan and tribu- 
taries, being largely devoted to that purpose. The crop of 1889 is 
placed in the census tables at 4,189,415 pounds. But the lands are also 
suitable to wheat and other grains, of which large crops are made. 

The Dan River runs through the north-western corner of the county, 
with a gentle current through a broad, very fertile valley. This valley 
is part of an old sea-basin, and is believed to contain valuable stores of 
coal. Efforts are now being made to test its value. On the north side 
of the Dan, Mayo River breaks into the valley over its rim of sand- 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 185 

stone and provides valuable water-power. At Leaksville the water- 
power has lon^^ been used in application to a large cotton factory. 

The Koanoke and Southern, now the property of the Norfolk and 
Western Railroad Company, CDnnecting Roanoke, Va., and \Vii)ston, 
N. C, passes through Rockingham County. The Richmond and Dan- 
ville road, passing through the eastern part of the county, is part of 
the main stem of one of the leading lines through the South. 

Went worth is the county seat. 

Reidsville, on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, is an imjiortant 
tobacco manufacturing town with a population of 2,909. It contains 
several sales warehouses and numerous factories of plug tobacco, and 
its brands are well and widely known. Leaksville has a population of 
726, and Leaksville Cotton Mill village of 315. Madison has 450. 

Rockingham County has 339,357 acres of land, valued at $1,555,412, 
and 1,163 town lots, valued at ^765,550. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,959 horses, 1,267 mules, 4 jacks and 
jennies, 17 goats, 5,571 cattle, 7,143 hogs, and 1,742 sheep. 

Product of taxation— for State use, ^9,540.97; pensions, $1,291.90; 
schools, $11,369.20; county, $10,784.80. 

Population— white, 15,197; colored, 10,166; total, 25,363. 

ROWAN. 

Rowan County lies on the west bank of the Yadkin River and south 
of its principal tributary, the South Yadkin, and resembles very closely 
in its agricultural and topographical features the county of Davidson. 
Its entire surface is drained by the tributaries of the Yadkin, which 
traverse its territory in a norih-easterly course. Its middle and northern 
sections, which lie for the most part above the level of 800 feet, rising 
at one point above 1,000 feet, are characterized by an abundance of red 
clay soils and heavy oak forests, interspersed with hickory, walnut, etc., 
only the higher parts of the water-sheds between the streams showing 
any growth of pine (short-leaf), and having gra}^ and yellow sandy 
loam soils. The south-eastern corner of the county, amounting to one- 
third of its territory, is quite broken, and is traversed by low ranges of 
mountains or high hills, which rise in places to a level of 1,000 feet and 
more above the sea. These consist geologically, for the most part, of 
ledges of granite. The hills of this region have a light gray and yellow 
sandy loam soil. 

The culture of cotton, while greatly increased in the past decade, 
still occupies a secondary place in the agriculture of the county, most 
of its territory being better adapted to the growth of corn and small 
grains, of which the total is the largest in the State. The upper por- 
tion produces also a considerable quantity of tobacco. There are many 
gold mines in this county, mostly in the southern part, and several 
copper veins. 

This is perhaps the finest grain-growing county in the State; more 
oats in 1880 and, with one exception, more corn and wheat having been 
raised here than in any other county. More hay beyond any com- 



186 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

parison is shipped annually from this point — 1,400,000 pounds having 
been shipped in 1881. From 8,000 to 10,000 bales of cotton are pro- 
duced annually, and tobacco in certain portions of the county is raised 
with great profit and in abundance. There are twenty-five flouring- 
mills ill the county, all run by water. 

The gold-mining operations in Rowan are on a larger and more 
expensive scale than elsewhere in the State. The seat of the chief 
mining industry is the "Gold Hill" and its associated mines, where 
the veins have been followed to the depth of 1,500 feet. This mine and 
others associated with it will be spoken of in a separate chapter. 

The Dunn Mountain Granite Quarry, four miles south-east of Salis- 
bury, is one of the most valuable in the country, the stone being in 
exhaustless mass, of fine homogeneous grain, and of color almost white. 
It was used in the construction of the Government building at Raleigh. 

The North Carolina branch of the Richmond and Danville road runs 
through Rowan, and at Salisbury the Western North Carolina Rail- 
road, making connection with Paint Rock and Murphy, and with all 
the systems of the great West, begins. A railroad has been recently 
opened south from Salisbury to Norwood, in Stanly County. 

Salisbury, the county seat, has a population of 4,418. It is admirably 
situated for trade and manufactures, having the amplest railroad 
facilities, and surrounded by a remarkably productive country. It has 
two large tobacco factories and two large cotton mills and other indus- 
trial establishments. 

The county contains numerous small but prosperous villages. 

Rowan County contains 317,010 acres of land, valued at ^1,843,681, 
and 990 town lots, valued at $793,540. 

Of domestic animals there are 3,325 horses, 1,517 mules, 16 jacks and 
jennies, 80 goats, 7,181 cattle, 9,838 hogs, 3,674 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $11,233.19; pensions, $1,512.91; 
schools, $14,877.15; county, $6,604 37. 

Population — white, 17,142; colored, 6,981; total, 24,123. 

RUTHERFORD. 

The topographical features of Rutherford County may be described 
in the same terms as those of Cleveland, which bounds it on the east. 
Like that, it is traversed from its northern limit, in the South Moun- 
tains, by the parallel southerly courses of several large tributaries of 
the Broad River. Its northern half is, in many places, quite rugged 
and mountainous (being properly a part of the Piedmont Division), 
and its north-western corner rests on some of the summits of the Blue 
Ridge, at an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet. Its soils and its agriculture 
corres[)ond in all their features to those of Cleveland County, and its 
cotton product has increased seventcen-fold since 1870. Gold mining 
is also an industry of some importance, especially in the northern sec- 
tion, where placers are abundant and extensive on the flanks of the 
South Mountains and in the beds of the streams at their base. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 187 

From the southern slope of the South Mouatains, and from the east- 
ern slope of the Blue Ridge, several large streams have their exit, and 
pass through this county to unite in forming the main stream of Broad 
River, which passes into South Carolina. The principal of these are 
Main Broad, which is on the western side of the county, and then turn- 
ing to the east and passing along the southern side; the Second Broad, 
which runs through the centre ojf the county from north to south ; and 
the First Broad, which passes through the north-east corner; and all 
of these are swelled by numerous atiluents. All of these, when beyond 
the influence of the mountains, are margined with broad belts of bot- 
tom lands of great fertility, productive as grain and grass farms, and, 
to a considerable extent, as cotton farms — the yield of the county being 
from 2,000 to 3,000 bales annually; and Rutherford County is practi- 
cally the western limit of cotton culture in North Carolina. The whole 
count}^ is favorable to fruit — apples, peaches, cherries, melons and 
grapes — and also to potatoes. 

The mineral wealth of the count}^ is very great. Among the South 
Mountains placer-mining has been pursued for many years. These 
deposits are found about the head-waters of First and Second Broad 
Rivers and Muddy and Silver Creeks, and have been worked in a rude 
way since 1830, producing several millions of dollars — the most pro- 
ductive locality yet discovered in the Atlantic States. 

Rutherford County is penetrated by the Carolina Central Railroad, 
its present western terminus being at Rutherford ton, a distance of 286 
miles from Wilmington. The Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Rail- 
road enters the county from Cleveland, passes through Rutherfordton, 
and has its present terminus at Marion, thus giving the county all 
needed facilities for transportation. 

Rutherfordton is the county seat, and, including the township, has a 
population of 1,287. Forest City has a population of 419. 

Rutherford County has 320,141 acres of land, valued at $1,255,294; 
and 29(3 town lots, valued at $121,238. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,199 horses, 1,658 mules, 13 jacks and 
jennies, 67 goats, 7,350 cattle, 10,301 hogs, and 4,273 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $5,272.52; pensions, $816.07; 
schools, $6,569.05; county, $17,445.09. 

Population — white, 15,073; colored, 3,697; total, 18,770. 

SAMPSON. 

Sampson County lies in the middle of the long-leaf pine belt, and 
much the larger part of its territory represents the average character 
of the soils and forests of that belt. It is drained by South River, one 
of the principal tributaries of the Cape Fear, whose streams divide its 
territory into north- and south-lying belts or zones — flattish swells, the 
higher portions of w.hich are characterized by sandy soils, and forests 
predominantly of long-leaf pine. In places near the southern and 
western margins, and again near the northern end, there are tracts 
which are quite sandy, and approach the character of pine barrens. 



188 HAND-BOOK OF XORTPI CAROLINA. 

There are also extensive pine fl its, especially on the waters of Six Runs, 
with here and there considerable bodies of pine and oak flats. 

The corn crop of the coanty is much more important than that of 
cotton, and the crops of potatoes and rice are both unusually large. 
There are also large bodies of virgin-pine t mber, still valuable both 
for turpentine and for lumber. Marl is abundant, and is used with ttie 
best results in some sectioas, chiefly the northern. The cotton crop is 
a considerable one, reaching from 0,000 to 8,000 bales annually. Fine 
tobacco has been cultivated to an ex lent, and with a success lo justify 
larger enterprise. Corn and peas constitute an important crop, and 
sustain the ability of the farmers to make that large quantity of bacon 
for which the county lias long been noted. The lightness, and at the 
same time the fertility of the soil, enable the farmers to make large 
quantities of sweet potatoes, and the large bodies of flat marsh land 
are favorable to the culture of upland rice. Sampson County is noted 
for the immense quantities of the whortleberry (or huckleberry) which 
cover the country. These berries are remarkably fine, and have become 
invested with such value as a subject of trade as to have become the 
subject of legal protection. The fruit, fresh and dried, is in great demand 
in the markets of the Northern cities. 

Sampson County has water communication with Wilmington by way 
of Black River, navigable for some distance into the county. The Wil- 
mington and Weldon Railroad traverses it, and a branch of that road 
extends to Clinton. 

Clinton, the county seat, has a population of 839. 

Sampson County has 484,195 acres of land, valued at ^1,179,429; 
and 1,093 town lots, valued at $115,144. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,701 horses, 1,351 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 4,187 goat«, 10,984 cattle, 36,703 hogs, and 7,416 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $5,572.01; pensions, §918.70; 
schools, $8,773.14; county, $7,163.78. 

Population — white, 15,960; colored, 9,136; total, 25,096. 

STANLY. 

Stanly County lies on the west side of the Yadkin River, and is 
bounded on the south by the Rocky River, one of its largest tributaries. 
Its soils are derived from the clay and chlorite slates of the great cen- 
tral slate belt of the State, and are gray and gravelly loams or red 
clays, according as the underlying rock is of the former or of the latter 
description. The forests are of oak and short-leaf pine. Its surface is 
quite broken near the rivers. The south-western corner of the county 
is characterized by broad and co'nparativel}- level tracts of gravelly 
land, covered with extensive short leaf pine forests, with a subordinate 
growth of oaks. 

The products of the county are cotton, of which about 2,500 bales 
are annually raised, and of a superior quality, and wheat, raised on the 
same slaty lands which give character to the cotton. The wheat 
averages in the crop higher than any produced in the United States, 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 189 

reaching from sixty-five to seventy pounds per bushel, and at the Vienna 
Exposition taking the prize for weight and excellence against the com- 
petition of the whole world. 

These slate lands are a depressed continuation of the Uwharrie 
Mountains, and are rich in gold. Operations in search of that metal 
have been continued for many years, and now engage considerable 
capital in the business of vein mining. 

The Yadkin — becoming the Pee Dee after junction with the Uwhar- 
rie — marks the eastern boundary of the county, and the Rocky River 
passes through the middle, both valuable for water-power, so far unap- 
plied except to local mills. The Narrows of the Yadkin, the most 
remarkable water-power in the Atlantic States, are in this county. 

A railroad has recently been opened from Salisbury to Norwood, a 
distance of forty miles. This is the only railroad in the county. 

Albemarle, the county seat, has a population of 248, Norwood of 159, 
Bilesville of 317, Palmersville of 317. 

Stanly County has 240,420 acres of land, valued at $917,881, and 244 
town lots, valued at $69,486. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,411 horses, 1,221 mules, 13 jacks 
and jennies, 108 goats, 5,701 cattle, 8,320 hogs, 5,936 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $3,814.98; pensions, $589.07; 
schools, 14,272,53; county, $4,527.15. 

Population— white, 10,629; colored, 1,507; total, 12,136. 

STOKES. 

Stokes is another border county, and belongs also to the bright 
tobacco belt. It is drained by the upper tributaries of the Dan, and 
belongs to the Piedmont Division of the State. Its surface is for the 
most part quite rugged and broken, containing the terminal spurs and 
ridges of the Brushy Mountains, which here attain an elevation of 
more than 2,500 feet above the sea. The general elevation is above 
1,000 feet. The forests of this county and of the Piedmont Region 
generally contain an added element, the chestnut, on elevated ridges 
and mountain slopes, and the proportion increases with the elevation. 
A new species of oak also makes its appearance, the chestnut oak, 
which occupies the crests and upper slopes of the poorer stony and 
gravelly ridges of the whole mountain region. The proportion of sour- 
wood also increases to such an extent in the Piedmont Region as to 
become a marked characteristic of its forests, and is indicative of a scant 
soil. It is worthy of note that, with the extinction of the herbage 
which originally mantled the .soil and kej)t it moist, the chestnut has 
almost disappeared in half a century from the upper midland counties, 
and is dying out slowly in the Piedmont Region. 

The soils of this county resemble those of Rockingham, being pre- 
dominantly yellow and gray gravelly loams, with occasional red clay 
belts, the former well adapted to the production of the higher grades of 
tobacco, which constitutes the chief element of its agriculture, and in 
the total product of which this county stands very high. Its manufac- 



190 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

turing facilities are great but undeveloped, and it is rich in iron ores. 
Its agriculture has the advantage of the presence of several limestone 
beds, and there are also outcrops of semi-bituminous coal in the south- 
eastern section. 

The Sauraton Mountains, a short but bold and picturesque range, 
uplift themselves about the centre of the county to an elevation of about 
1,800 feet above the mean level of the adjacent country, and as a con- 
tinuation of that chain the solitary Pilot, with its high castellated crest, 
stands out alone upon the landscape, the wonder and also the guide of 
the aborigines, and the admiration of their civilized successors. Around 
the bases of these mountains the country is rough and broken, abound- 
ing in minerals and also in mineral springs of marked value. This 
broken formation lies in the north-western part of the county. 

Along the Dan and its tributaries the land partakes much of valley 
formation, much of it being included in what is known as the Dan 
River coal basin, a pre-historic sea-basin, whose surface is exceedingly 
fertile, and from whose bowels it is hoped great treasure of coal is to be 
drawn. Besides coal, which is proven to exist, and lime, which is 
known to abound, vast beds of iron are found, and their value demon- 
strated and in process of development. 

Few counties in the State have greater agricultural resources. The 
rich valleys bear enormous crops of corn, and wheat and other grain 
crops flourish everywhere. The great crop of the county is tobacco, 
for which Stokes has long been noted — tlie dark rich leaf that charac- 
terizes the adjacent counties in Virginia, the product of dark, rich soils, 
and the bright yellow, the gift of the lighter soils, being ec[ually respon- 
sive to culture. The crop of 1889, by the census record of 1890, was 
3,119,389 pounds, most of which finds a market in Winston, though 
much of it is manufactured in the county. 

There are now good railroad facilities in the county, the Roanoke 
and Southern running through the north-west corner of the county, 
and the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley road through the south-west 
corner and western edge. 

Danburv is the county seat, and, like the other villages of the county, 
has a small population 

Stokes County has 270,486 acres of land, valued at $1,002,515, and 
251 town lots, valued at $63,910. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,215 horses, 1,521: mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 2 goats, 5,590 cattle, 8,876 hogs, 2,109 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $4,449.07; pensions, $703.94; 
schools, $0,442.40; countv, $5,528.71. 

Population— white, 14^386^ colored, 2,813; total, 17,199. 

SURRY. 

Surry is a north border county, contiguous to the Blue Ridge, and 
belongs to the Piedmont Section of the State. The Yadkin River is 
its southern boundary. Its western section is quite mountainous, and 
there are small mountains in the middle, so that its surface is quite 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 191 

broken, and its average elevation is nearly 1,400 feet. Its soils and 
forests are like those of the neighboring counties — Stokes and Forsyth; 
the high slaty ridges and mountains, as well as much of the rolling 
surface, having a light gray sandy loam soil and forests of oak and 
pine, with sourwood and chestnut, while the better tracts of reddish 
clay loams have a predominant growth of oaks, hickory, poplar, etc., 
wiih little or no pine. 

The agriculture of the county is like that of Stokes, tobacco of the 
better grades being the chief market crop, but of greatly less value 
than the grain product. The water-power of the county is notable, a 
number of large tributaries of the Yadkin cro.ssing its territory with a 
fall of several hundred feet. This is a feature common to the whole 
piedmont region. There are several cotton factories and iron mines 
and forges in the county. 

At the southern extremity of the count}^ the Blue Ridge takes a 
northern trend, throwing the mass of the county towards the east — a 
broken but not a mountainous countr}^ with much of rich arable land, 
and intersected with numerous fertile valleys. The Blue Ridge, in this 
part of its course, is remarkably prolific in bold streams, which rapidly 
contribute to the formation of the large river Yadkin, which catches all 
these affluents on the south border of the county.' Among these streams 
are the Ararat, Fisher's, Mitchell's and Elkin, all within the territory 
of Surr}^ all with productive valleys, and all with remarkably fine 
water-power. 

The mineral interests of the county, confined chiefl}' to iron, have 
had no substantial development as yet, from deficiency of transportation. 
The construction of the Winston and Wilkesboro road up the Valley 
of the Yadkin, along: the southern boundary, and the construction of 
the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley road as far as Mount Airy, assure 
material changes at no distant day. 

Tobacco is the most important crop, the returns for the year 1889 
showing a crop of 1,429,025 pounds. The other principal crops are 
corn (a crop nearly monopolizing the broad Valley of the Yadkin from 
its sources to the borders of Stanly), wheat, oats, rye, grass; and the 
fruits of the country thrive to great perfection. 

The most noted manufacturing industry of the county is the woolen- 
mill at Elkin, in which blankets of extraordinary beauty and excellence 
are made; and cotton-mills and tobacco factories at Mount Air}-. 

The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley road extends from MountAiry to 
Wilmington, and makes universal connections. The Winston and 
Wilkesboro road, an extension of the North-western Norih Carolina 
road, skirts the southern border of the county. 

Dobson is the county seat, with small population. Mount Airy has 
a population of 1,768. Here are cotton-mills, tobacco factories, sales 
warehouses, and in the vicinity exhaustless quarries of fine granite, now 
extensively worked. Elkin has a population of 288. 

Surrv County has 281,931 acres of land, valued at $1,002,515: and 
251 town lots, valued at $63,916. 



192 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,215 horses, 1,521 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 5,590 cattle, 8,876 hogs, and 2,109 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, S4,449.07 ; pensions, $709.94 ; 
schools, $6,442.40; county, $5,52;i.7J. 

Population — white, 16,926; colored, 2,355; total, 19,281. 

SWAIN. 

Swain County lies north of Macon and Jackson, along the waters of 
the Tennessee River, and on the Hanks of the great Smoky Mountains 
on the north, which here rtach their culmination in elevations of 
nearly 6,700 feet. . With the exception of some open valley tracts near 
its centre, along the before-mentioned river and its tributaries, the ter- 
ritory of this count}^ is exceedingly rugged and broken. The proportion 
of cultivable land is ver}'- small. It is heavily timbered, even to the 
highest summits of the Smoky Mountains, with the prevalent mountain 
forest growths. The higher levels of the Smoky Mountains, above 5,000 
feet above sea-level, are covered with forests of firs, while the more 
elevated coves abound in white pine and hemlock, and its deep gorges 
and lower slopes with maple, poplar, linden, hickory, chestnut, buckeye, 
walnut, magnolias and cherry. The summits of the high mountains 
furnish fine natural pasturage, and grazing has always been the chief 
industry. 

Clingman's Peak, in the Smoky range, is 6,600 ftet high, the loftiest 
of the whole range, and is in a group of mountains between Pigeon 
and Tennessee Elvers, where this long chain attains its maximum 
elevation. The south faces of these mountains are very fertile, and 
covered with trees of enormous magnitude. Their varieties are named 
above. The soil of these mountains is .so deep and fertile that with the 
exception of an occasional "bald" or grass-covered summit the growth 
of heavy timber extends to the top, the balsam fir here attaining its 
greatest height and diameter, not equalled elsewhere in the North 
Carolina mountains. 

The soil, similar to that of Madison County, has proved very suitable 
to the culture of fine tobacco, and the lands are being applied to that 
use. The advance in culture is shown by the progress from 1879, when 
the crop was stated at 1,160, and in 1889 at 47,543. Owing to the 
rugged nature of the county, and the usually trough-like character of 
the valleys, relatively a small proportion of the land is in cultivation. 
Corn, wheat, rye and oats are the chief crops. 

The Western North Carolina Railroad finds its way through the 
count}' down the banks of the Tuckaseege and then up that of the 
Tennessee. 

At the junction of these streams is one of the largest and most com- 
plete saw-mill works in North Carolina. 

These rivers, and the Ocona Luftee, are the chief streams in the 
county. Tliere are other large mountain streams, such as Forney's, 
Hazel and Deep Creek, famous for trout, and also the wild game along 
their borders. 



DESCKIPTION or COUNTIES. 193 

Along the Ocona Luftee, the Soco, and a portion of the Tuckaseege 
Rivers, lies the greater part of the reservation for the Cherokee Indians. 
They number, according to the census returns for 1890, 711 souls. 
They have adopted the habits of the whites, are christianized, go to 
school, pay taxes, and vote. At Yellow Hill, on the Ocona Luftee, the 
Government has provided them a farm connected witli a school, where 
they are well instructed in elenaentary branches and in mechanical, 
agricultural and domestic pursuits. 

Bryson City is the county seat. It is the seat of several steam saw- 
mills and wood-working establishments. Whittier is a small village, 
similarly occupied. 

Swain County has 426,152 acres of land, valued at $453,976, and 141 
town lots, valued at |37,823. 

Of domestic animals there are 420 horses, 180 mules, 3 jacks and 
jennies, 4,877 cattle, 8,109 hogs, and 2,185 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $1,780.94; pensions, $276.39; 
schools, $2,995.30 ; county, $3,953.95. 

Population — white, 5,652; colored (including 711 Indians), 925; total, 
6,577. 

TRANSYLVANIA. 

Transylvania is a true mountain county, having on its whole south- 
ern border the Blue Ridge in its most massive and imposing form ; and 
also being the starting point for the Pisgah and Balsam ranges, which 
stretch through the county towards the north. The onh^ exception to 
the rugged nature of the surface is presented by the valleys along 
Davidson's River, and along the French Broad and its tributaries, all 
of which flow through broad and fertile valleys, and all of these in 
cultivation and in a high state of improvement. These valleys are the 
foundation of the stock-raising which at present is the great source of 
revenue to the county ; and great efforts by intelligent men are made 
to improve breeds, and still further develop this important industry. 
Much the larger portion of the county is in forest, covered with the 
usual timbers of the mountain, all of which attain enormous size from 
the great fertility of the soil. 

The land reduced to tillage produces grasses, the cereals, tobacco and 
all the fruits of the temperate zone in great excellence. 

There has been no development of mineral treasure, but there is 
enough known to predicate in the future a large exposure of mines of 
gold, silver, lead, nickel, copper, asbestos, corundum and mica, all of 
which are known to exist in the wilderness of the Balsam and Pisgah 
solitudes. 

The south end of the county is an elevated plateau of considerable 
breadth and of unique characteristics. A portion of it is a broad val- 
ley of such dimensions as to give birth and dignity to a river of con- 
siderable size, which drags a sluggish length through a wide area of 
cultivation for fifteen miles or more, and then tumbles into the valley 
of the French Broad, 1,000 or 1,200 feet below, over the steep escarp- 
ment which guards the plateau on all sides, in a series of water-falls, 
13 



194 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the highest and fullest among the mountains. Ctosar's Head, a prom- 
ontory of 1,800 feet in height, at a point where the Blue Ridge makes 
a short projection into South Carolina, is on the southern side of this 
escarpment. 

There is no railroad entering this county, which is a great hindrance 
to its development. A part of the Knoxville, Western and Carolina 
road is graded across the plateau above mentioned, but work on it is 
at present suspended. Companies are organized for other lines, but 
nothing has been done. 

The French Broad River, which, in its upper course, is a placid 
stream with little perceptible fall, has been made navigable from Bre- 
vard to within twelve miles of Asheville by the work of the General 
Government. But though a steamboat was placed on the river, no useful 
results have followed except in the improved facilities for floating logs 
and timber to the mills below. 

Brevard is the county seat. 

Transylvania has 190,020 acres of land, valued at $473,141, and 86 
town lots, valued at $12,225. 

Of domestic animals there are 656 horses, 352 mules, 6 jacks and 
jennies, 57 goats, 5,070 cattle, 5,250 hogs, and 5,491 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $1,815.43; pensions, $277.06; 
schools, $2,975.54. (No county taxes reported for 1890). 

Population — white, 5,368: colored, 513: total, 5,881. 

TYRRELL. 

The description of Tyrrell County may be given by simply repeating 
that of Washington, except that the great intersound swamp extends 
over a larger part of the county. Its northern third, lying on Albe- 
marle Sound, resembles in all its features the corresponding portion of 
Washington. No part of it rises twenty feet above sea-level. It is 
bounded on the east by the great projection from Albemarle Sound 
known as Alligator River, which has a depth nearly equal to that of 
the sound and a breadth of from three to five miles. A portion of the 
lich border land of Lake Phelps lies within this county. In the south- 
eastern corner, along Alligator River and its tributaries, and on the 
western side, these lands are semi-swamps and oak flats, and have a 
gray silt and clay loam soil. 

What is said of the resemblances between these two counties will be 
more fully said in the account of Washington. Tyrrell produces about 
1,500 bales of cotton annually, a good crop of corn, potatoes, peas, and 
about half a million pounds of rice, to whicli the drained swamp land 
is well adapted. Its chief industry is in the products of the forest, 
abounding in juniper, cypress and gum. On its shores are valuable 
fisheries. It is washed on its north side by Albemarle Sound and on 
the east by Alligator River, an arm of the sound nearly as wide as the 
parent body. 

Columbia is the county seat. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 195 

Tyrrell County has 149,414 acres of land, valued at $332,738, and 46 
town lots, valued at $25,525. 

Of domestic animals there are 364 horses, 312 mules, 3,701 cattle, 
6,169 hogs, and 1,665 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $1,486.67; pensions, $224.57; 
schools, $1,752.75; county, $3,195.67. 

Population— white, 3,000; colored, 1,225; total, 4,225. 

UNION. 

Union County borders on South Carolina, and lies between Anson 
and Mecklenburg, from parts of both of which it was formed. The 
southern portion of the county is penetrated to a distance of several 
miles by belts of long-leaf pine (sandy lands) on the level-backed 
divides between the streams. This portion of the county is drained 
southward into the Pee Dee through South Carolina. 

The soils of a larger part of the county are of a slaty origin, and are 
gray gravelly and sandy for the most part, with occasional areas of red 
clays. The forests are mixed pine and oak, hickory, etc. The soils of 
a narrow belt along the west side are granitic. The cotton product 
belongs mainly to the southern half, the northern portion being devoted 
to small grains, of which it produces large crops. The chief crop is 
cotton, of which about 10,000 bales are annually produced. Corn and 
the small grains constitute the remainder of the agricultural products. 
Frequent creeks, with rich alluvial bottoms, traverse the county and 
provide a large extent of fertile arable land. 

The Carolina Central Railroad passes through Union County, open- 
ing up the markets of Wilmington and Charlotte; and the Georgia, 
Carolina and Northern road has recently been finished from Monroe to 
Atlanta, Ga., and, in connection with the Seaboard system, has added 
another great through line of freight and travel. 

Monroe is the county seat, and is credited by the census of 1890 with 
a population of 1,866. It is a town of great business activity, with 
cotton factories, banks and public institutions, and will no doubt feel 
the impulse of its added railroad facilities. 

Union County has 385,446 acres of land, valued at $1,359,119; and 
513 town lots, valued at $258,441. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,661 horses, 2,213 mules, 4 jacks and 
jennies, 93 goats, 7,983 cattle, 11,099 hogs, and 6,910 sheep. 

Product of taxation— for State use, $7,191.12; pensions, $1,058.83; 
schools, $11,848.12 ; county, $9,331.29. 

Population — white, 15,712; colored, 5,547; total, 21,259. 

VANCE. 

A'ance is a new county, formed out of Granville, Franklin and War- 
ren, and combines the best qualities of those three important counties. 
It is well situated as to railroad communication, and also as to water- 
power, character of soil and diversity of crops. The county is traversed 



196 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

by numerous streams, with fertile lowlands, and the uplands are equally 
adapted to cotton, tobacco and the cereals. The cotton crop yields 
annually about 3,000 bales, and the tobacco crop for 1SS9 is stated b}^ 
the Census Report of 1890 to have been 1,979,070 pounds. For diversity 
of crops \'auce County yields the palm to none. The principal market 
crops are tobacco and cotton, which are marketed within the count}' at 
fair and remunerative prices. The cotton is of an unusuall}^ fine sta- 
ple, and the tobacco is mostly the fine yellow. In addition to tobacco 
and cotton, wheat, corn and oats are raised in abundance, while the 
usual yield of rye, potatoes, millet, peas, beans, peanuts and melons is 
large and somewhat above the general average ol the State. Apples, 
peaches, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries and grapes have done well 
and are raised in large quantities in many parts of the county. Along 
the railroad these fruits are raispd for shipment to Northern markets, 
and, when properly cared for, yield large profits. There are several 
large vineyards, where the different varieties of wine of suj^erior quality 
are manufactured in quantities, and profitably. 

The county is travel sed by the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, with a 
branch road to Oxford. 

Henderson, the county seat, has a population of 4,191, has several 
tobacco factories, sales warehouses, in which are annually sold between 
6,000,000 and 8,000,000 pounds of leaf tobacco, and is the market for 
from 6,000 to 8 000 bales of cotton. The growth of Henderson has 
stimulated the industrial activity of the surrounding country to very 
marked extent. The town proved to have been most advantageously 
situated. The tobacco and cotton crops here overlap each other. Until 
within the past few years very little or no tobacco was raised east of 
Plenderson, and very little or no cotton west. Now the bright yellow 
tobacco, for which this section is so famous, is raised in large quantities 
east as well as west of Henderson; and cotton is planted successfully 
west as well as east of this town. 

Kittrell has a population of 317. Middleburg and Williamsboro 
have smaller populations. 

Vance County has 164,007 acres of land, valued at $1,140,054; and 
741 town lots, valued at $612,311. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,484 horses, 495 mules, 59 goats, 3,312 
cattle, 6,148 hogs, and 949 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $7,519.17; pensions, $978 68; 
schools, $6,509.25; county, $7,571.08. 

Population — white, 6,434; colored, 11,147; total, 17,581. 

WAKE. 

Wake County, in which the Capitol of the State is situated, is one of 
the largest counties in the State, and shows the largest product of cotton. 
It is drained by the tributaries of the Neuse, and lies on the eastern 
margin of the oak uplands, its southern and eastern sections partaking 
of the agricultural features of the oak and pine gravelly hills, the for- 
ests being made up of long-leaf and .short-leaf pines, oaks, hickories. 



DESCKIPTIOX OF COUNTIES. 197 

dogwoods, etc. The northern portion of the county, as well as the west- 
ern, is quite hilly and broken in surface, especially along the streams, 
and the soils are predominantly gray and yellow sandy and gravelly 
loams, with occasional areas of red clay. 

Wake County was established in the year 1770, and was named in 
honor of the Wake family, into which the then Governor of North 
Carolina (Tryon) had married. It was formed from portions of Orange, 
Johnston and Cumberland Counties, and lies midway between the Alle- 
ghany Mountains on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. 

Poliiically the centre of the State, by singular coincidence it appears 
to be the agricultural centre — a common ground on which the crops of 
opposite sections find congenial soil. Thus, it is the largest cotton-grow- 
ing county in the State, the crop reaching as much as 30,000 bales 
annually. The tobacco crop yields from 500,000 to 800,000 pounds 
annually, its corn crop is the largest in the State, its wheat crop is a 
large one, its oat crop is a good one, and it has proven high capacity 
for grasses and clover, and excellent adajitation to dairy-furming. It is 
well suited for fruits of all kinds, and is of surpassing virtue in the per- 
fection of the grape. 

The county is rich in minerals. For many years an extensive vein 
of plumbago has been known to lie in the vicinity of Raleigh, which, 
at one time, was extensively worked. Serpentine, asbestos and steatite 
abound in some locdities, and excellent granite is found near Raleigh 
and in the vicinity of Rolesville. Out of the granite obtained on the 
eastern margin of Raleigh the State Capitol was built. 

The county is intersected by railroads, all centering upon Raleigh — 
namely, the Raleigh and Gaston, with its extension south-west, the 
Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line; and the North Carolina road, with its 
east and west connections, which so cross each other at right angles as 
to divide the county into four equal sections, thus giving all equal 
advantages. 

Neuse River passes through the center of the county from north-west 
to south-east, fertilizing along its course a large body of productive land 
and providing great water-power, utilized for paper-, saw- and flouiing- 
mills. 

Raleigh is the capital, with a population of 12,678 by the census of 
1890. Here are the State Capitol, the Supreme Court buildings and 
Library, the Agricultural Department, the State Hospital for the Insane, 
the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum for the whites, and a similar 
institution for the colored race, the State Penitentiary, the State Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical College, the State Fair buildings, St. Mar3r's 
School (female). Peace Institute (female), Shaw University (colored), 
graded schools for both races, hotels, the Governor's Mansion, the United 
States Court building and Post-otfice, churches for all denominations, 
etc. There is a liberal system of electric street railroad, electric and 
gas-lighting, water-works, sewerage, telephone exchange and other con- 
veniences, a cotton exchange and co:ton compress, and numerous manu- 
factories and industrial works, among them two cotton factories and a 
fertilizer factory. 



198 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Gary, a village lying both on the North Carolina and the Raleigh 
and Augusta Air- Line roads, has a population of 423; Apex, a popula- 
tion of 269; Rolesville, of 150; Holly Springs, of 218; Morrisville, of 
150. Wake Forest College town has a population of 853. 

Wake County contains 505,625 acres of land, valued at ^3,392,072 
and town lots valued at $3,109,257. 

Of domestic animals there are 2,640 horses, 2,947 mules, 13 jacks and 
jennies, 440 goats, 8,827 cattle, 17,783 hogs, 3,029 sheep. 

Product of taxation— for State use, $25,858.87; pensions, $3,121.98; 
schools, $23,147.22; county, $23,225 95. 

Population— white, 26,093; colored, 23,114; total, 49,207. 

WARREN. 

Warren County lies on the northern border of the State, and is 
bounded in part iDy the Roanoke River, the tributaries of which drain 
about one-half of its territory, the southern half being drained by the 
Tar River. Through the middle of the county, along the divide 
between these rivers, lies a wide, level, and undulating tract, with forests 
of oak and short-leaf pine, hickory, dogwood, etc., having generally a 
soil of the class of gray and yellowish gravelly and sandy loam, and 
frequently belts of red clay loam. Northward and southward the land 
becomes more hilly, and near the streams the soil is more clayey and 
often reddish in color. Many of these streams are bordered by narrow 
strips of level bottom land. The tributaries of the Tar on the southern 
side are separated by wide tracts of nearly level oak uplands, and are 
bordered by extensive bottoms. This portion of the county is also less 
broken than the northern. The agriculture of the county is divided 
between the production of cotton, tobacco, and the cereals; but the vine 
and the peach flourish, especiall}' in the northern and western sections 
lying within the hill country. The w'estern border of the county rises 
to an elevation of 500 feet, so that there is abundant w-ater-power 
developed by the fall of its numerous streams, many of which leave its 
territory at an elevation of less than 200 feet. Gold mining has been 
a profitable industry in the southern corner of the county and the 
neighboring parts of Halifax, Nash and Franklin. 

Cotton is a crop of much importance, the annual yield being between 
7,000 and 9,000 bales. Tobacco has always been a heavy crop, the 
quality being mostl}'^ of the dark heavy grades, though, in recent years, 
there has been a large proportion of bright yellow. The crop of 1889 
is stated at 847,150 pounds. Wheat grows with healthful luxuriance, 
and the yield is very great, and all the other cereals produce abun- 
dantly. 

The county is traversed by the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, from 
which there is a branch road to Warrenton. 

Wurrenton is the county scat and has a population of 740; Littleton 
of 554. 

Warren Countv has 265,664 acres of land, valued at $1,228,445, and 
256 town lots, valued at $196,290. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 199 

Of domestic animals there are 1,545 horses, 447 mules, 1 jack, 84 
goats, 6,650 cattle, 7,068 hogs, and 1,478 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $5,6^K).15; pensions, ^824.85; 
schools, $6,978.50 ; county, $6,152.37. 

Population— white, 5,880; colored, 13,480; total, 19,360. 

WASHINGTON. 

Washington County lies on the southern shore of Albemarle Sound 
and Roanoke River, and extends southward into the great intersound, 
or Alligator Swamp. Only about one-half its territor}', next to Albe- 
marle Sound, has been brought into cultivation to any extent, the 
southern half remaining in its original condition. The cultivatable 
portion consists mainly of oak flats, having a close gray clay loam soil 
and a growth of oak, hickor}^ beech, maple, and short-leaf pine, with 
flattish ridges here and there which have an intermixture of long and 
short-leaf pine and sandy loam soils. The former are generally quite 
fertile. The southern portion of the county is swampy, and is charac- 
terized by the presence of two considerable lakes, Phelps and Pungo, 
which occupy the highest portions of the swamp, and from which many 
of the streams of the county take their rise. Around the margins of 
these lakes are narrow belts or ridges of swampy, mucky land, which 
were originally covered by heavy forests of gum, ash, maple, cypress, 
poplar, etc. The soils are of great depth and indefinite fertility. Much 
of the swamp land of this portion of the county is peaty and worthless, 
except for timber. The south-western section consists partly of semi- 
swamps, with gra}^ fertile loams, and partly, in the "Longacre" coun- 
try, of pocosons, with a small growth of pine and scrub oaks, very flat, 
with an ashen soil of close texture, silicious, but as impervious as clay. 

More cotton is produced than would be predicated on the prevalence 
of swamps. But the land is very rich, and the crop reaches from 3,000 
to 3,500 bales annually. Large crops of corn are raised, and also of 
sweet potatoes. A considerable quantity of rice is raised. Along the 
shore of Albemarle Sound there are productive fisheries of shad and 
herring. The chief industry of the southern half of the county is in 
the products of the forest. There is every facility of water transporta- 
tion. Pungo Lake and Lake Phelps are connected with the sound by 
canals large enough to admit access to the sail vessels used in shipping 
the products of the farms. 

Plymouth, the county seat, on the Roanoke River, has a population 
of 1,212, Creswell of 200, and Roper village of 400. 

Washington County has 170,064 acres of land, valued at $511,818, 
and town lots, valued at $119,355. 

Of domestic animals there are 653 horses, 450 mules, 1 jack, 25 
goats, 3,043 cattle, 6,372 hogs, and 876 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $2,775.72; pensions, $408.66; 
schools, $4,091.31; countv, $6,205.21. 

Population— white, 4,961 ; colored, 5,239; total, 10,200. 



200 HAND-EOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



WATAUGA. 

Watauga Count}' occupies the whole hreadth of the narrower part of 
the transmontane phiteau, being bounded for the most part north- 
westward by the Smoky range and south-eastward by the Blue Ridge. 
It is traversed in a northerly course by two massive cross-chains con- 
necting the summits of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, the 
Rich Mountains and the chain of Hanging Rock and Beech. Its 
average elevation would about equal that of Ashe County — 3,500 feet. 
Its whole surface is rugged and mountainous, with the exception of a 
few limited tracts along the two principal rivers, where considerable 
valleys open out, with occasional stretches of bottom lands. The soils 
and forests, as well as the predominant agricultural features of this 
countv, are like those of Ashe County. There is great abundance of 
chestnut in its forests, and on the Rich Mountains there are great 
quantities of linden. Its high levels and benches are the best grass 
lauds in the State, and in consequence cattle-raising enters largely into 
its agriculture. It also produces corn and small grains in considerable 
quantities, including wheat, rye and buckwheat, the county leading in 
the last-named crop. Of the county area, 18.89 per cent, is tilled land, 
of which very little is cultivated in cotton. 

Watauga is one of the best of the mountain counties of Norih 
Carolina, less developed than most of them, but behind none in its 
natural resources as a grain, grass, live stock, dairy, fruit, wine and 
lumber region. It abounds in undeveloped mineral wealth, one of the 
many copper mines in and around Elk Knob being the only one which 
has as yet been actively worked, and extensive operations on it have 
been commenced and profitably pursued, but, for sufficient causes, 
operations have been suspended. 

Boone, the county seat, is at an elevation of 3,342 feet above sea-level, 
the most elevated county seat in the United States. 

The famous summer resort, Blowing Rock, is on the southern margin 
of the Blue Ridge. It is at an elevation of 4,090 feet above the level 
of the sea, and is equipped with good hotels for the entertainment of 
yearly increasing swarms of visitors. Within a short distance is the 
famous Grandfatlier Mountain, the highest point in the Blue Ridge 
Mountains. A few miles from Blowing Rock is the summer resort of 
Linville. 

Watauga County contains '210,100 acres of land, valued at $773,954, 
and 124 town lots, valued at $23,897. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,562 horses, 400 mules. 1('» jacks and 
jennies, 15 goats, S,4()3 cattle, 8,318 hogs, 8,180 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, -$3,077 46; pensions, -5486.65; 
schools, 83,774.22; countv, §8,269.89. 

Population— white, 10,180; colored, 431 ; total, 10.511. 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 201 



WAYNE. 



Wayne County lies eastward of Johnston County, south of Wilson 
County, and west of (Jreene, on the waters of the Neuse, which crosses 
its middle portion and drains almost the whole of it directly and by its 
tributaries. This county resembles in all respects the adjoining counties 
already described. Along the Neuse River and some of the other 
streams are considerable bodies of alluvial land and semi-swamp, and 
not infrequentl}^ fringes of cypress and gum swamp. Along the south 
bank of the Xeuse is a narrow zone of pine barrens, conforming in its 
general trend to tlie curves of that river, and having a breadth of from 
one to three miles. Both this county and Johnston have still consider- 
able areas of turpentine and timber lands. 

The cotton and grain products of Wayne County are large, and those 
of rice and potatoes are considerable. There is an abundance of inarl, 
and it has been used very profitably in former years; but latterly, as 
in the cotton region generally, commercial fertilizers have usur[)ed the 
place of nearly all others. 

The cotton crop of Wayne County is its largest money crop, in 1889 
amounting to 12,394 bales. The fertility of the soil along the margins 
of the rivers and streams, where careful drainage has been effected, 
assures abundant returns in corn, wheat, potatoes, peas, and also in 
rice, which has become in recent years a large and remunerative crop. 
Truck farming is also pursued on a large scale, and also the culture of 
berries and small fruits for the Northern markets, abundant railroad 
facilities creating the means of successful competition with all Southern 
rivals. And these facilities, extended in all directions, have stimulated 
all industries, agricultural and mechanical, to the extent of greatly 
advancing the prosperity of the whole county. 

The Wilmington and VVeldon road passes through the county; the 
Atlantic and North Carolina road connects it with Newbern and More- 
head City; the North Carolina road, of 223 miles in length, unites it 
with all points of the State west of it, and the Midland road connects 
it with Smithfield and the short-cut of the Wilmington and Weldon 
road, contributing to create at Goldsboro a commanding and important 
railroad centre. The Neuse River is navigable from Newbern through 
Wayne County, but is little used by steamboats above Whitehall, in 
the south-ea.st corner of the county. 

At or near Whitehall are the m.ineral springs known as the Seven 
Springs, valued for their number and their varied and efficient curative 
qualities. They will be spoken of in a future chapter. 

Goldsboro is the county seat, favorably situated at the intersection of 
the railroads already named. By the census of 1890 it had a popula- 
tion of 4,017. The city contains a Cotton factory, rice-mill, furniture 
factory, agricultural works, knitting factory, cotton-seed oil-mill, lumber 
mills, ciffar factorv, and other minor industrial works. Fremont has a 
population of 377. 



202 HANI>-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Wayne County has 325,045 acres of land, valued at $1,975,991, and 
1,065 town lots, valued at $1,085,261. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,624 horses, 1,916 mules, 1 jack, 2,521 
goats, 6,588 cattle, 25,924 hogs, 1,303 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $12,939.81 ; pensions, $1,624.10; 
schools, $13,450.70; county, $13,842.97. 

Population— white, 15,115: colored, 10,985; total. 26,100. 

WILKES. 

Wilkes County lies west of Surry, and differs from it only in being 
more mountainous and rugged and having a greater average elevation, 
not less than 1,500 feet. Its northern margin rests on the summits of 
the Blue Ridge (at an elevation of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet), its southern 
on the Brushy Mountains (from 2,C00 to 2,500 feet above sea-level), and 
its whole surface is carved into a succession of mountain ridges and 
narrow intervening valleys by the Yadkin and its numerous tributaries. 
Its agrijulture and its forests may be described in the same terms as 
were those of Surry, except that, with the increase of elevation, the 
growth of chestnut increases, and a new forest element enters, to a small 
extent, in the white pine (P. fifrobus), both in the South Mountains and 
on the Hanks of the Blue Ridge. Along the margin of the Yadkin 
River and its larger tributaries are frequent and wide tracts of sandy 
and clay bottom lands. In various parts of the county are small areas 
of reddish clay soil, but much the larger part of it shows the average 
oak upland soil, yellow or gray sandy loam. The lighter soils are well 
adapted to the highest grades of tobacco, the culture of which begins 
to enter largely into its agriculture. The water-power of the county is 
very large, the sources of its multitude of rivers having an elevation 
of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above tide, and their mouths less than 1,000 
feet. This county lies mainly between the highest ridges of the Blue 
Ridge on the north-west, and those of the Brushy Mountains on the 
south-east. The slopes of these two mountain ranges furnish the water- 
sheds which meet in the Yadkin River. These watersheds abound in 
streams of much beauty, furnishing at the same time, by means of their 
many waterfalls and shoals, very abundant w'ater-power, while along 
their banks there is very fertile and beautiful land for farming pur- 
poses. The number of these streams is somewhat remarkable. Among 
them are the Mulberry, Roaring River, Reddie's River and Little Elkin 
on the north side, and Moravian and others on the south, whose united 
waters soon create the flood-tide of the Yadkin, serving the double pur- 
pose of mighty and exhaustless water-power and the presentation of a 
series of broad and fertile valleys, scarcely equalled on the American 
continent. These valleys are all remarkable for their productiveness in 
corn, fertilized by the sediment deposited at every overflow, but an over- 
flow so gentle and gradual as to involve no damage to the land or grow- 
ing crops. Wilkes is not a large producer of tobacco, the crop of 1889 
being given as only 17,322 pounds ; but its soil invites to the larger cul- 
ture of it, and recent added facilities of access to market encourage the 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES, 203 

ambitious energy of the farmers. Cotton is so little appropriate, either 
to soil or climate, that in 1889 only sixteen bales appear to have been 
made. But in all the small grains, in potatoes and in fruits, every- 
where in Wilkes is exuberance and excellence. 

The Winston and Wilkesboro Railroad, an extension of the North- 
western North Carolina road, extending from Winston to North Wilkes- 
boro, a distance of seventy-five miles, opens up a section heretofore 
accessible with difficulty, touching innumerable mainsprings of pros- 
perity and giving promise of the speedy development of a most fertile 
country, rich in all the elements of industrial wealth, and enjoying all 
those advantages of healthfulness and scenic beauty common to the 
whole Blue Ridge country of North Carolina. 

Wilkesboro is the county seat, with a population of 336. United 
with North Wilkesboro, on the north side of the Yadkin, by elegant 
iron bridges. North Wilkesboro, the present terminus of the railroad, 
is a new and growing town. 

Wilkes County has 436,604 acres of land, valued at $960,464, and 
181 town lots, valued at ^34,500. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,840 horses, 1,078 mules, 31 jacks 
and jennies, 23 goats, 11,308 cattle, 17,101 hogs, and 6,512 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $4,109.00; pensions, $663.96; 
schools, $6,406.94; countv, $13,776.69. 

Population— white, 20,633; colored, 2,042; total, 22,675. 

WILSON. 

Wilson County lies on the western border of the long-leaf pine belt, 
and its soils belong almost exclusively to the region of level upland 
piny woods, and correspond to those of Edgecombe. This county is 
traversed by numerous streams, the most notable of which is the Con- 
tentnea, along which, as well as its tributaries, are found considerable 
tracts of alluvial land and swamps (gum and cypress). In all respects 
the agriculture of this county repeats that of Edgecombe, both as to 
practice and as to results. Marl is found in the eastern half of the 
county. 

Wilson is a large cotton producing county, the crop for 1889 being 
returned in the census report for 1890 at 11,129 bales. 

It is altogether a thrifty, prosperous county with numerous elements 
of prosperity. It is traversed by the Wilmington and Weldon Rail- 
road, advantageous to its industry and promotive of the creation and 
growth of several thrifty towns. Wilson, the largest of these, is the 
county seat, with a population of 2,126. Here is a cotton factory, 
tobacco sales houses, fruit and flower nurseries, a female college, graded 
schools, churches, etc. Black Creek has a population of 191, Saratoga 
of 100, and Toisnot of 482. 

Tobacco culture has recently developed with rapidity in Wilson 
County, almost altogether in the best qualities. In 1879 the crop was 
stated officially to be 8,745 pounds. In 1889 it is returned in the census 
report at 232,966 pounds. Sales warehouses have been erected in the 
town of Wilson, and the prospect is for steady increase in production 



204 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In Wilson County there are 228,928 acres of land, valued at SI, 538,660, 
and 615 town lots, valued at $618,024. 

Of domestic animals there are 1,030 horses, 1,723 mules, 2 jacks and 
jennies, 1,870 goats, 3,581 cattle, 16,000 hogs, and 1,470 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $0,143.04; pensions, $1,236.95; 
schools, $0,786.76; county, $4,190.82. 

Population — white, 10,884; colored, 7,760; total, 18,614. 

YADKIN. 

Yadkin County lies immediately north of Davie, in the hend of the 
Yadkin River, wliich bounds it northward and eastward. It is traversed 
in a nearly east and west course by the Brushy Mountains, which here 
drop down into low spurs and swells, the average elevation of the county 
being probably not greater than 1,200 feet. Its soils and forests are 
like those of Davie County. Its agricultural interest is divided between 
the production of tobacco and grain crops, the product of the latter 
nearly reaching half a million bushels. Cotton culture has invaded its 
southern border to a small extent within a few years. There are sev- 
eral iron mines in the county, but they have been little worked, as they 
are too far from market. 

The tobacco crop for 1889 is. .stated officially to have been 373,672, 
while that of 1879 was 177,595. The cotton crop for 1889 was only 5 
bales, while that of 1879 was 26. 

Yadkin County being bounded on the north and east by the Yadkin 
River, has the benefit of the Winston and Wilkesboro road which runs 
along the north bank of that stream. There is no railroad in the county. 

Yadkinville is the county seat, with a population of 175. 

Yadkin County has 212,701 acres of land, valued at $926,126. and 
295 town lots, valued at $46,168. 

Of domestic animals, there are 1,329 horses, 1,202 mules, 20 jacks 
and jennies, 5 goats, 4,878 cattle, 8,131 hogs, and 2,483 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $3,699.98; pensions, $599.21; 
school, $4,654.47: county, $5,082.73. 

Population— white, 12,421; colored, 1,369; total, 13,770. 

YANCEY. 

Yancey County lies on the west of Mitchell. This county is pre- 
eminently mountainous. The Black Mountains penetrate it from the 
south-east and extend to its centre near Burnsville, the county seat. 
There are twenty summits of this range in this county rising above 
6,300 feet, the highest, Mitchell's High Peak, being 6,717 feet, the high- 
est point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The Smok}' 
Mountains separate this county from Tennessee, the highest peak within 
its limits being the Bald Mountain, 5,550 feet in height. Numerous 
cross-chains intersect the county in all directions, leaving very little 
valley land except along the margins of numerous small streams, with 
broader ones along the larger streams. Toe and Caney Rivers. But 



DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 205 

mountains are the characteristics of the county. These, without excep- 
tion, are fertile to the very top, covered with deep, rich and friable soil, 
in their natural condition bearing trees of great size. The walnut often 
attains the diameter of eight feet, the wild cherry a height of sixty feet 
to the first limb, and with a diameter of four feet, the poplar with a 
diameter often feet, the black birch or mountain mahogany, the oak 
of several species, the hickory, maple and ash, the yellow locust and 
other trees, all of giant size. The quantit}-, magnitude and excellence 
of forest stores has attracted attention from abroad, and large supplies 
are now annually cut, sawed and shipped. 

Brought into cultivation, the soil is very fertile, producing all the 
grains, grasses and fruits, the apples being of notable excellence. 
Tobacco of great excellence is produced, and the culture is rapidly 
extending. The mountain sides, when cleared, are finely adapted to 
all the grasses; large quantities of sheep are raised, and cattle in large 
numbers are annually driven off to the Virginia markets. 

This county is rich in metals and minerals. Magnetic iron abounds 
but is not yet mined. Other ores of iron are abundant. Copper has 
been found. Asbestos, corundum and mica are abundant, one of the 
most prolific veins in the United States being worked near Burnsville. 

Tobacco of excellent quality is produced to the extent of 139,464 
pounds, according to the Census Report for 1890. 

Burnsville, the county seat, has a small population. It is situated at 
an elevation of 2,840 feet above the level of the sea. 

Yancey County has 162,799 acres of land, valued at $389,812, and 55 
town lots, valued at §10,395. 

Of domestic animals, there are 1,185 horses, 587 mules, 10 jacks and 
jennies, 5,252 cattle, 6,460 hogs, 3,671 sheep. 

Product of taxation — for State use, $1,467.95; pension, $278.74; 
schools, $3,044.89; countv, $3,740.40. 

Population— white, 9,l"97; colored, 293; total, 9,490. 



206 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH 

CAROLINA. 

It is now an old story that, in the details of the census reports on 
the crops and products of the several States of the American Union, 
in North Carolina only were the divisional columns completely filled 
under their headings of the various crops produced; and that in this 
State alone was found in practical and profitable culture whatever else 
was cultivated in every other State, whether North or South, East or 
West. However trite this story has become, it can never lose its impor- 
tance; it emphasizes the fact that North Carolina is that happy middle 
ground, that fortunate zone of climatic harmonies where the rigors of 
the Northern cold and the ardors of the Southern heats so meet and 
blend as to compose, in their tempered extremes, that ameliorated tem- 
perature in which the vegetation of all antagonizing climates may find 
not only life but vigor. And to these happy compromises and compo- 
sitions of climate are to be added those equally happy conditions of 
soil which alike favor the gross luxuriant feeder of the Southern fields 
and the hardy and more abstemious plants of the Northern farms. 

This striking peculiarity is largely, if not altogether, due to those 
causes referred to in the previous chapter on "Forestry," in which 
it was shown that the difi"erence in elevation between the different 
extremes of the State, the gradual ascent through a space of nearly 
four hundred miles from the level of the sea to the heights of the 
mountain plateaus, alone to be considered in relation to agriculture, is 
the same in efiect as the ascent in latitude, from the almost tropical 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the actually frigid regions of the lakes 
and the Saint LawTence. And to the influence of low level on our 
Atlantic shore is to be added the potent influences of the Gulf Stream, 
which sweeps along as far as Cape Hatteras within a few miles of the 
coast, bearing with it something more than balmy mildness; it carries 
along in its breath a stimulus to vegetable growth, as if its mission 
were to strew along its long extended track the triumphs of its creative 
energy and bear even to the poles the trophies of its potency. 

Thus is explained why the palmetto, the magnolia and the live-oak" 
are at home on the coast of North Carolina; and thus we find in the 
fields of Columbus and adjacent counties the sugar-cane of Louisiana 
as luxuriant in growth, as juicy in its flow of sap and as rich in its 
yield of granulated sugar as if its juices had been drawn from the 
teeming soil and ripened by the hot sun of a tropical zone. And, 
reversing the points of observation, we find the sugar-maple trees of 
the mountains as bountiful in their flow of sap and as rich in their 
yield of sugar as if the}' owed their hardy life to the cold airs of Ver- 
mont. In the first case, depression of level has associated our eastern 
section with the influences of the tropics; in the other its uplift into a 
mountain elevation has thrust it into assimilation with Canadian 
atmospheric conditions. It will be well understood, then, as illustrated 



AGRICULTURAL TKODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 207 

by the extremes presented, what a broad, fruitful field North Carolina 
presents for the profitable culture, if not literally side by side, yet in 
reasonable contiguity, of all the field crops cultivated in the United 
States. From its extensive territory, from its east or its west are drawn 
those large contributions to the maintenance of the people and the 
commerce of the world — the rice of the coast and the buckwheat of the 
mountains, the cotton of the South and the fiax of New England, the 
corn, the wheat, the rye, the oats, the barley, the sorghum, the potatoes, 
the peas, the tobacco, the vegetables, the fruits, the grapes, the every- 
thing — which, if North Carolina knew herself, if the stranger knew her 
as she ought to be known, would make her the most coveted and most 
prosperous country upon wliich the sun sheds his fertilizing beams. 

In the presentation of the important crops produced in North Caro- 
lina it is unfortunate that the full reports of all the crop results have 
not yet been given to the public in detail. We are under obligations 
to the Commissioner of the Census for the full report of the cotton and 
tobacco crops of North Carolina, and will use them so far as they meet 
present objects. For some of the other crops we present the following 
summary, assumed to be proximately correct: 

There were produced in North Carolina in 1888 of corn 35,830,000 
bushels, wheat 5,094,000 bushels, rye 395,000 bushels, oats 8,405,000 
bushels, barley 3,000 bushels, buckwheat 57,000 bushels, potatoes 
1,114,000 bushels. But this last is evidently erroneous, since in 1880 the 
yield of sweet potatoes alone w\^s 4,576,148. Irish potatoes alone exceed 
in quantity the figures named. Rice is not mentioned; in 1880 the 
yield was 5,609,191 pounds. The quantity has increased, rather than 
diminished, since. 

While claiming for North Carolina an almost universally of produc- 
tion, and that to a high degree of excellence, it is with no boastful 
purpose to make immodest demands for recognition of her superiority, 
yet isolated instances might give just foundation for boastfulness, a few 
of which are here cited : 

His Excellency, Governor Thomas M. Holt, made on his Davidson 
County farm, on eighty acres, on a clover sod and without other ferti- 
lizer, an average of over forty-six bushels to the acre. 

The wheat of Stanly County has an average weight of sixty-four 
pounds to the bushel, and seventy-two pounds is not uncommon, such 
an example being given in the Exhibition at Vienna. 

In cotton, Mr. Buffaloe, living near Raleigh, made in 1890, with three 
ploughs, 100 bales of cotton, an average of a bale and a half to the 
acre, and has not made less than twenty bales to the horse in many 
years; and there are many farmers who make from twenty to twenty- 
five bales per horse in Wake, and also in other counties. Authentic 
instances are noted in Buncombe County of over one thousand bushels 
of Irish potatoes to the acre; and one liundred and thirty-seven bushels 
of corn have been raised on one acre. Of tobacco, it has not been infre- 
quent to make sales of $650 to the acre. 

North Carolina may share in the eulogy pronounced by Chauncey M. 
Depew before the Alumni Association of Yale College after his return 
from his visit to the South. He says: 



208 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The net results of this visit to the South, to my mind, is just this: that The South 
IS THE Bonanza of the Future. We have developed all the great and sudden oppor- 
tunities for wealth— or most of them — in the North-western States and on the Pacific 
Slope, but here is a vast country with the best climate in the world, with condi- 
tions of health which are absolutely unparalleled; with vast forests untouched: with 
enormous veins of coal and iron which yet have not known anything beyond their 
original conditions; with soil that, under proper cultivation, for little capital can sup- 
port a tremendous population; with conditions in the atmosphere for comfortable 
Uving. winter and sununer, which exist nowhere else in this countrj-; and that is to 
be the attraction for the young men who go out from the farms to seek settlement, 
and not by innnigration from abroad, for I do not think they will go that way: but 
by the internal immigration from our own country it is to become in time as prosper- 
ous as any other section of the country, and as prosperous by a purely American 
development. 

TOBACCO. 

This important product has always had leading recognition in Xorth 
Carolina as well as in Virginia, in which State it became a staple from 
the earliest colonial times. The plant was a native of the American 
continent, and its use by the natives prevailed wherever the white dis- 
coverers appeared, whether on the islands or on the continental shores; 
and the whites quickly adopted a fascinating habit, which was acquired 
with ready facility, for the fascination of its spell fell with equal charm 
upon the white man as well as upon the savage; and the most precious 
boon bestowed by the new world, more precious and more humanizing 
than gold or silver, was that weed which carried in its juices and in its 
odors that seductive and soothing principle providentially adapted to 
cheer and to soothe, and to supply at last that elixir which mankind 
had always been craving, always seeking, and never finding until it 
was attained in the discovery of the new world. 

The marvelous avidity with which the discovery was turned to use, 
the rapidity with which a new and unanticipated habit was created 
and diffused, was illustrated by the prompt abandonment by the Vir- 
ginia colonists of their vain search after gold, and the diversion of all 
their interest and industry to the cultivation of tobacco. As early as 
1015, only seven years after the settlement of Jamestown, every acre 
of the colony was applied to tobacco, even to the neglect of much- 
needed food crops: for the people of England quickly learned its uses, 
and the colonists as quickly learned that they possessed a valuable 
foundation of prosperity, a commodity of which they held the monop- 
oly, one always in demand, one that might assure them commercial 
strength and independence. With the expansion of the colony into 
the lands of the interior, the culture of tobacco spread with propor- 
tionate rapidity, and the product became almost the sole article of export 
to England, and the sole medium of exchange. In the absence also of 
money it also became the legitimate currency of the country, with 
which merchandise was purchased, salaries paid, taxes discharged, and 
with which the stipends of the clergy were discharged. And Virginia 
was formed into a great tobacco paradise, where material and senti- 
mental aspirations were alike supplied and gratified. 

With the progress of settlement and the enlargement of colonial 
territory, North Carolina partook of the agricultural and commercial 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 209 

habits of \'irginia. With the one, as with the other, in those days 
tobacco was the sole product of the fields that could bring the needed 
returns in money, or its equivalent, for the labor bestowed ; the only 
item that encouraged conflict with the wilderness t<) reduce it to culti- 
vation; the only one that [>roniised future wealth to the newly founded 
nommonwealth. Upon those parts of North Carolina where settlements 
were made and fields were opened, tobacco was the leading crop, even 
in those parts where it was subsequently abandoned to be resumed 
again in our day with more distinction and far more profitable returns. 
In North Carolina, as in Virginia, tobacco became the currency of the 
country. 

It is well known that until 1857, when the process was discovered of 
giving to tobacco that bright golden color and that exquisite delicacy 
of texture which has so greatly enhanced its value — previous to that 
year various processes were adopted with reference chiefly to the pro- 
duction of chewing tobacco of greater or less excellence by such sys- 
tems as the hal.its of generations had approved — sun-curing, kiln-curing, 
flue-curing, all, however, resulting in a dark material, packed and mar- 
keted according to intrinsic value, the lower priced qualities being 
packed in hogsheads which supplied themselves the place of wagons, 
revolving on spindles placed in the centre of the circumference of the 
heads, to which shafts were attached, to which a team of two or three 
animals was hitched and then dragged off" to distant markets — to 
Petersburg or Fayetteville — through mud and water, to the reduction 
of whatever value the rude material may have had. For such tobacco 
prices were only nominal, but it supplied in quantity what was lost in 
quality; for then tobacco was grown on strong new land, and the leaf 
grew large, lusty and heavy. But when fine color was made the desider- 
atum in connection with quality, the quality of the soil in reference to 
color, texture and flavor became a subject of prime consideration, and 
the cure, preparation and marketing operations of exceeding nicety, 
profound experience and consummate skill. The results have brought 
both a revelation and a revolution; a revelation of the capacity of a 
dark, coarse-leaved, strongly flavored leaved plant for transformation 
into the golden hued, silky fibred, delicately perfumed article, high- 
priced \"irginia Brights! 

Of all the contradictions ever arrayed against indisputable facts, of all 
the wrongs committed against existing rights, of all the baseless claims 
ever made against authentic priority, of all the arrogance that lays title 
to name and fame to that which brings honor and profit to its origi- 
nator and almost sole producer, none are so unfounded as those which 
attaches the name of "Virginia Brights" to the unrivalled leaf of North 
Carolina. It was in North Carolina it had its origin ; it was here it made 
its home, it is here it is destined to live without the fear of successful 
competition. For with the exception of portions of Halifax and Pitt- 
sylvania Counties, in Virginia, it remains the exclusive glory of North 
Carolina. Nor is it confined to the section in which it originated, or 
rather where the process that has so magnified tobacco was first perfected. 
In that section, Caswell and Person, Granville and A^ince, Orange and 
14 



210 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Durham, Alamance and Guilford, Rockingham and Stokes, Forsyth 
and Surry; in the east, Nash and Edgecombe, Pitt and Greene, Halifax 
and Wilson; in the west, Buncombe and Madison, Yancey and Mitch- 
ell, Haywood and Swain, are not only large producers of tobacco, but 
also of bright tobacco, the sole difference in quality being that derived 
from longer experience in the processes of cure; and from these and 
other counties not named, are derived nine tenths of the tobacco that 
goes on the foreign markets as Virginia Brights But perhaps the 
censure we naturall}^ affix upon Virginia for the absorption of an honor 
properly belonging to North Carolina may be modified by the reflec- 
tion tliat the application of her name to our property was, to some extent, 
natural and unavoidable. From time immemorial our tobacco was 
taken to her markets and shipped from her ports It never went to 
any North Carolina port except in a past perii-d when the heavy tobac- 
cos, in their coarse packages of Chatham, Orange and some other coun- 
ties, found their way to sea out of Wilmington b\' way of Fayetteville. 
The rest went to Richmond and thence to Europe. There it received 
the name of the State from which it was shippe i. Virginia was not 
reluctant to appropriate the honor thus implied, and was quite willing 
to be magnified, even at the expense of her neighbor. 

Since North Carolina has become a tobacco manufacturing State, 
which she was not in former days, and since she has become famous 
the world over for the products of her bright tobacco, her smoking 
tobacco and her cigarettes, it is due to her honor and her interest that 
she should make the effort to reclaim what she has lest and iterate the 
demand for the application of the right name for i hat which she almost 
exclusively produces. British commercial nomenclature partakes of 
all the tenacious, unchanging conservatism that attaches to everything 
British. The leading dealers and manufacturers may, by persistent 
appeal, arouse that sense of justice wliich is as inherent in the British 
mind as its conservatism. Let the demand go up with unceasing cry 
for the application of the proper name, in the European markets, of 
North Carolina Brights. 

EXTENT OF THE TOBACCO AREA IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

There are ninety-six counties in North Carolina, of which twelve, viz.: 
Camden, Carteret, Craven, Gaston, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Per- 
quimans, Richmond, Tyrrell, and Washington, are not returned in the 
Census Report of 18U0 as producing tobacco. All of the.se, except Gas- 
ton and Richmond, are in the East where the prevalence of the drained 
swamp lands and the poverty of the soils may oppose its culture. But 
it is probable that even in these the plant is cultivated for home use. 

VALUE OF THE CROP. 

Prices that may seem fabulous have been obtained in numerous sec- 
tions for the very highest grades of bright tobacco. In Granville, 
Caswell, Person, Durham, Alamance, and other counties, prices ranging 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 211 

from $1.50 to $3 per pound have not been uncommon. Perhaps the 
fairest statement, to be accepted as free from exaggeration, is presented 
by Mr. W. W. Wood, in his address before the Tobacco Association of 
North CaroHna, at Winston, in August, 1891. He has selected groups 
of farmers in a few counties to illustrate the average of prices. His 
statements are moderate, as will occur to those acquainted with many 
more striking examples. He says: 

"In Surry County fifteen farmers obtained a combined average price 
of 26i'o cents per pound, the combined average amount produced to 
the acre being 498 pounds, equal to $132. 4G, less cost ($51.25) — equal 
to $81.21 profit per acre. 

"In Rockingham County fourteen farmers combined; average price 
obtained was 33tV cents per pound, the average number of pounds to 
the acre being 477, equal to §157.80 less cost ($51.25), equal to $106.55 
profit per acre. 

"In Franklin County eleven farmers obtained a combined average 
price of 19| cents per pound, and produced the combined average of 
916 pounds to the acre, equal to $177.09, less cost ($51.25), equal to 
$125.84 profit per acre. 

"In Vance County seven farmers received a combined average of 4Sf 
cents per pound, and produced an average of 792 pounds per acre, 
equal to $383.13, less cost ($51.25), equal to $331.88 profit per acre. 

"In Edgecombe County three farmers received a combined average 
of 19-^ cents per pound, and produced an average of 1,493 pounds per 
acre, equal to $288.64, less cost ($51.25), equal to $237.39 profit per 
acre. A most wonderful showing, indeed, of pounds per acre. 

"In Granville County five farmers received a combined average of 
27A cents per pound, and produced an average of 790 pounds per acre, 
equal to $219.62, less cost ($51.25), equal to $168.37 profit per acre. 

"In Wilson County eight farmers received the combined average of 
22f cents per pound, and produced an average of 902 pounds per acre, 
equal to $205.19, less cost ($51.25), equal to $153.94 profit per acre." 

EXTENT OF THE CROP. 

This is always a controverted point between the gatherers of the 
census statistics and those whose transactions in the markets and else- 
where would seem to give them more accurate sources of information. 
In the same address Mr. Woods explains the discrepancy upon the 
habitual reluctance to respond to official inquiry, even to the extent of 
listing If ss than half of their personal taxable property. The informa- 
tion of the other is drawn chiefly from the sales-books of the warehouses 
of the State, conducting sales in twenty-five or more markets in the 
State, each with from one to five warehouses in which the business is 
conducted by men of trusted integrity as well as of skill and expe- 
rience. The conclusion reached by Mr. Wood, in careful examination 
of the books of these warehouses, is as follows: 

" Six of these markets sell annually a total of 51,000,000 pounds, an 
average of 8,500,000 each, 16,000,000 being the greatest and 5,000,000 



212 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the lowest amount sold by any one of them. Nine others of them sell 
annually a total of 11,500,000, averaging above one and one-quarter 
millions each, two and a half millions being the greatest and one mil- 
lion the lowest amount sold by any one of them. The remaining ten 
markets sell annually a total of 4,500,000, averaging about 500,000 
each, three-quarters of a million of pounds being the greatest and one- 
tenth of a million the smallest amount sold by any one of them. 
These facts are obtained from the most authentic source — from weights 
and settlements agreed upon between the producers and the purchasers 
in the public warehouses." 

And he adds: 

"Thus North Carolina produces annually 70,000,000 pounds of leaf 
tobacco, and 67,000,000 pounds are sold in North Carolina markets. 
Deducting 5,000,000 pounds of the amount sold (a full estimate) to 
cover leaf resold in our markets by speculators and thus twice or more 
times placed on the sale books of the public warehouses, and all of the 
leaf sold in our own markets from other States, we find that we have 
sold 62,000,000 pounds of North Carolina tobacco alone; leaving of the 
76,000,000 produced in the State, a balance of 14,000,000 pounds to 
cover all that is marketed outside of it by our farmers. If Danville, 
Petersburg and other ^'irginia markets were to sell annually, as they 
claim, 30,000,000 pounds for our farmers, who sell also in North Caro- 
lina markets 62,000,000 pounds, the production of the State would 
show the startling figures of 92,000,000 pounds. But I do not claim 
so much for North Carolina. Due allowance must be made for exag- 
gerations, naturally expected of outside markets, with regard to the 
amount of leaf they sell for our planters; so I 'charge otl"' 16,000,000 
of the 30,000,000 pounds that they claim to sell, and allow that they 
sell 14,000,000 pounds only, which, added to the 62,000,000, make 
76,000,000 pounds produced in North Carolina as at first stated." 

And this is not made up of one variety alone, as might be inferred 
from previous illustrations of values. " Within her borders is produced 
such a variety of high-grade leaf and in such quantities as is nowhere 
else to be found the world over. Upon her high type of cutting leaf 
the great cigarette business of the world was built up. Her unsur- 
passed smokers produced in the 'Golden Belt,' placed her granulated 
smoking tobacco o,t a premium over all others in the w^orld. H*er 
mahogany types of fillers and wrappers are, by chewers of tobacco 
everywhere; preferred before all others." 

In justice to the faithful, pains-taking, if erroneously informed, 
gatherers of the tobacco statistics, the following table is published as 
setting forth the crop of 1889 in the census of 1890. The census of 
ISSO, made under the same conditions, showed the crop of 1879 to 
have been 26,086,212 pounds. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA, 213 



TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN NORTH CAROLINA FOR 1889. 
¥in)M Tenth Census (Undekestimated). 

Acres. Pounds. Value. 

Tlie State 97,077 36,875,258 $5.1 75.833 

Alamance 3,0>8 901.922 108,590 

Alexander 151 54,774 6.900 

AUeghan.y. 2 835 115 

Anson... 3 626 97 

Ashe... 14 3.080 445 

Bladen 2 530 65 

Brunswick 1 110 15 

Buncombe. 3,049 1.482,688 225.665 

Burke 160 83,816 12,045 

Cabarrus 2 735 90 

Caldwell... 137 55.516 7,730 

Caswell 8,567 2,510.699 304.295 

Catawba 41 16.400 2,280 

Chatham 1,173 345.466 56,160 

Cherokee 15 2,140 415 

Clay 31 6.105 955 

CleVeland 1 610 115 

Columbus 4 1.370 170 

Cumberland 1 260 30 

Davidson 1,703 694,480 101,395 

Davie. 2,593 668.616 74,350 

Duplin. 6 2,100 150 

Durham 3,658 1,274,544 166,200 

Edgecombe 119 51.420 10,800 

Forsvth 4.119 1.607,323 213.773 

Franklin 2,263 859,015 153,935 

Graham 4 1,170 90 

Granville 11 , 183 4,170.071 722,675 

Greene 24 6,650 " 706 

Guilford 2,517 918.723 117.137 

Halifax 274 93,714 14,788 

Harnett... 6 2,339 287 

Haywood 1,707 861,096 137.775 

Henderson 61 22,486 3,050 

Iredell 447 199.758 23,168 

Jackson 54 25,211 2,500 

Johnston 60 26.365 3,106 

Jones 4 900 110 

Lenoir 6 3,000 325 

Lincoln 9 4,460 675 

McDowell 46 16.319 2,000 

Macon 9 3.695 370 

Madison 4,749 2,168,823 322,503 

Mecklenburg 2 470 52 

Mitchell... 123 44.488 4,805 

Montgomery 4 1 .635 205 

Moore 116 45.838 6.445 

Nash 1,823 782,713 170.630 

Northampton 18 5,879 505 

Onslow - 46 5 

Orange 2,411 732,508 82,040 

Pender 5 2,185 110 

Person 7,100 2,327,201 323,713 

Pitt 70 27,104 5,175 

Polk 11 5,461 985 

Randolph..... 146 50,180 8,800 

Richmond 30 4 

Robeson. 48 10,500 780 

Rockingham 10,688 4,189,416 489,973 

Rowan 390 187,724 22,075 

Rutherford. 37 10,740 1,225 



7.655 


1.040 


6,200 


462 


3.119.289 


432.663 


1.429.025 


187.775 


47.543 


5.657 


6.569 


860 


120 


20 


1.979,070 


329.713 


479,585 


85,175 


846,150 


103.230 


4.540 


605 


112,010 


15.570 


17,322 


1.910 


232,966 


40.792 


873,673 


48,055 


139,464 


16,735 



214 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Acren. Pounds. Vahie. 

Sampson - . - - - 19 

Stanly - ^ 15 

Stokes - - - 7,774 

Surry - 3,437 

Swain 93 

Transylvania 19 

Union - 1 

Vance - - 4.979 

Wake 1.378 

Warren 2,153 

Watauga 23 

Wayne 330 

Wilkes 59 

Wilson 483 

Yadkin 1,004 

Yancey 315 

RICE. 

This very important and highly valuable crop has been the chief 
industry and source of wealth ouly to one section of North Carolina, 
because of the choice by it of a variety superior to all others in intrinsic 
merit and market value, and of the existence, in that favored locality, 
of special natural conditions essential to the perfection of the product 
not possessed elsewhere in the State. It will be shown that while these 
conditions, and also the superiority of the products of a certain well 
defined area are incontestable, no cause forbids why other varieties of 
rice, of possibly inferior quality, may not be diffused over the State, 
introduced into portions of it where the success of its culture might 
now appear chimerical, and not only greatly enlarge the store of human 
sustenance, but make valuable addition to the subjects of commercial 
interest. 

There are two leading varieties of rice whose names are defined by 
their nature, and whose habits of growth and maturity are regulated 
by the systems pursued in culture, whether dry or wet, thus giving in 
the market distinctions between upland and lowland rice. But the 
nature and the habits of the two varieties are not so far apart as to be 
irreconcilable; and the positions of the two might be interchangeable, 
if desirable, though with possible detriment to both. For rice is a 
plant of great flexibility of habit, and also of numerous varieties, or 
rather sub-varieties, of one fundamental original ; so that adaptation, 
not only now but long ago, practically has been found for the plant 
not only to situation requiring continued moisture, in some stages of 
growth, to the extent of continued saturation, but for the opposite con- 
dition of comparative aridity. Thus among the Philipjiine Islands 
sixty-nine varieties are noted grown in the marshy fiats of the coast 
area, thence inland and upland until rice fields are found productive 
high up the dry mountain-sides. The same variation is found on the 
continental lands of British India, where culture of rice extends from 
the soaked morasses of the Ganges far up the sides of the foot-hills of 
the Ilimaku'as. And this is the case also in Burmah and in China, 
where rice is essentially the food of all classes and the sole dependence 
of the poor, so that disaster to the rice crop is the occasion of those ter- 



A(iKIC('LTrRAL PKODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 215 

rible famines, the story of wliich so frequently horrifies those families of 
mankind to whom sole reliance upon a single crop is almost incon- 
ceivable. But the truth is that rice constitutes the chief sustenance (>f 
more than half the human family. That it has done so, and b}' almost 
the sole virtues of its powers of nutrition, has swelled the population 
of the peoples dependent upon it to such incredible numbers, is con- 
vincing testimony to its efficient adaptation to its uses. With the 
increai-e of population in other parts of the world, and the constant 
pressure upon the sources of food supply, those people whose wants 
must be supplied with that which is at once cheap and nutritious 
would be wise to adopt more generally and more confidently the grain 
which elsewhere has so signally manifested its capacity not only to 
sustain population, but maintain and perpetuate it in vigor and health- 
ful ne-s. 

As a people the Americans have not taken very kindly to rice. It 
has been, with many, despised as an effeminate diet, fit only for the 
invalid or feeble infancy, or if admitted to the table, to come disguised 
as a dessert or confection. The Northern and the Western people inva- 
riably prepare it with sugar, as if it were unable to perform the robust 
function of a breadstuff' or a vegetable, treated as the manipulated 
product of sago, tapioca or arrowroot. The Southern people, with bet- 
ter knowledge because with larger experience of its virtues, consider 
it a? indispensable upon their tables, either plainl}' boiled, or entering 
into the composition of bread, waffles and johnny-(journey)-cakes, and 
more rarely, of puddings. This is more especially the case in the 
Southern Atlantic States. Its uses are beginning to find more favor in 
the interior. The great variety of other breadstuff's in the United 
States, and the relative smallness of the population, has made the cul- 
tivation of new tastes unnecessary. But now the rapid increase of 
numbers and the vast proportion of non-producers gives warning that 
the time has come to add all resources attainable for the procurement 
of a full supply of breadstuffs. An ample resource may be found in 
rice, if varieties are cultivated in areas of country not dependent upon 
the wet system of culture. 

The first rice introduced into the American Colonies was in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century. From the few grains planted in the 
garden of Landgrave Smith, in Charleston, came the stock upon which 
was founded the subsequent great rice industry of South Carolina, 
which has always been the centre of the rice-growing region. North 
Carolina and Georgia. The variety introduced was the "white" rice, 
such as grown in China and Guiana at the present day, but long since 
superseded by the "golden seed," introduced just prior to the Revolu- 
tionary War, and which has alwa^'s commanded the highest prices in 
both home and foreign markets. This is the variety that best thrives 
in water culture, and this system requires conditions not everywhere 
attainable. The soil must be rich, the ground must be low, it must be 
at will under control of overflow, and it must equally be subjected to 
prompt and thorough drainage. The overflow must be that of fresh 
water, and the drainage must be ontrolled by the operation of the 



216 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tides. These combinations can only exist near the mouths of fresh- 
water streams, and as the Cape Fear river is the onl)' stream bearing 
down a body of fresh water directly to the sea, and the onl}' one mate- 
rially affected by the rise and fall of the tides, so the marshy lands 
along its lower course offered the only location in North Carolina that 
could be successfully adopted. And thus it hajipens that this section 
of this State is the centre of the tide-water rice culture and the home 
of the rice planters, once, more than now, deriving consideration and 
wealth from the monopoly of the cultivation of a single staple, valua- 
ble and always sure of a market. It may be maintained ip connection 
with the golden seed of the Cape Fear that its superiority over all other 
American rice has been so freely admitted elsewiiere, that for genera- 
tions it has been used as the seed rice of South Carolina and Georgia, 
some of the Cape Fear planters raising their crops with sole reference 
to this object. This is due both to the intrinsic excellence of the grain 
and to its freedom from filth and admixture with inferior qualities, 
results of careless culture. 

While the golden seed was accepted as the variety best adapted to 
the tide-water culture, the white seed was not without its friends, and 
found ready and wide application in damp lands in the interior, most 
often to be seen along the margins of small streams and swamps where 
moisture could be obtained and yet the necessity of flooding avoided. 
Indeed, experience has demonstrated that it can be grown on the same 
soil with corn and other grains, and may be seen in the eastern coun- 
ties side by side with dry-land crops. A writer in The Bulletin of the 
North Carolina Department of Agriculture for April, 1892, says: 

"Rice may be grown, but M-ill not fruit well, on very light soils. It 
prefers moist loams and the lighter clays. The soils along our rivers, 
creeks and branches, mud bottoms, marsh lands when drained and not 
too much inclined to peat, and second lowland=, if not too stiff, are 
well adapted to it. It can be grown, and, sometimes, with favorable 
seasons, very successfully, on high, dry uplands of good quality, but 
its culture there is hardly to be recommended. There are many pond 
places on uplands ihat will not bring corn, but will bring very good 
rice and abundantly, to^, particularly if cowpened or if cow-pen 
manure is used." 

This proves the wide range to which the culture of the upland rice 
may be expanded, not only in the eastern section of the State, but the 
extremest western borders of the Piedmont country, if not into the 
mountains; for if the necessary inquiries were made, Avithout question 
varieties might be discovered in the islands of the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans and the continent of Asia which would flourish in the soils and 
localities in this State. It is not open to conjecture to predict the suc- 
cess of upland rice in all the middle and most of the upper counties of 
the State, as illustrated by the fact that the census of 1.S80 showed that 
in 1879 the counties of Lincoln, Cleveland and Gaston, Caldwell, Burke 
and McDowell, far western, thougli cis montane counties, produced 
9,176 pounds; and the sea-bound and long-leaf pine region, omitting 
New Hanover and Brunswick Counties which produced the tide- water 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 217 

rice exclusively, had in cultivation 9,027 acres, and produced 4,156,075 
pounds upland rice. New Hanover had 315 acres in cultivation and 
produced 260,008 pounds, and Kruns\vi(;k 1,489 acres and 1,103,852 
pounds. The census returns for 1880 have not yet given out its details 
in respect to all crops, but while there will be found little increase in 
the tide-water crop, it is believed that there will be material increase of 
upland culture. 

This is not the place for description of methods of culture of either 
the upland or tide-water crops. That information must be obtained 
most appropriately elsewhere. I)Ut notice may be taken of certain 
obstacles in the way of successful upland culture, which with some have 
been urged as unsurmountable. These may be summed up, on the 
tediousness of the first working to clearing the 3'oung plant of grass, in 
tide-water culture effected by water, on the other by hand. This can 
only be overcome by patient labor with the consolation that when once 
done, it is done forever. The other is loss in handling the crop; and 
another, liability to failure from blast. Intelligence has found out 
methods to avoid the first on some crops charged with the same liability, 
and as to the other wheat, oats and other grains are subject to the same 
casually. In the introduction of new and untried crops men are apt to 
expect commendation for their liberal intelligence, and to expect from 
nature suspension of her laws in reward for their courage. Such expec- 
tations may be dismissed; but the remedy may be found by going 
back to the countries from which the white Madagascar rice came, and 
in after years, the golden seed. Something as good or better will be 
bound to reward the search. 

COTTON. 

The cotton crop of North Carolina bears important relation to the 
aggregate crop of the whole South, the moie remarkable because her 
position as a cotton State has been somewhat reluctantly yielded by the 
more Southern States, because, perhaps, cotton has been with most of 
them almost the sole great staple, while with North Carolina it has 
been only a valuable incident, confirming what has been previously 
stated about the diversity and magnitude of the agricultural operations 
of the State. The fact that the different parts of the Sta'e were unable 
to apply themselves to the profitable crops, not all of them, before the 
war, chiefly dependent upon slave labor, and also the relatively high 
latitude, both prima facie, gave the State, in comparison with the exclu- 
sively cotton States, inferior importance. Yet, very slight investigation 
shows that while North Carolina was a large tobacco growing State, a 
wheat growing State, a corn growing State, a gra's growing State, a 
cattle raising State, a hog raising State, with all of which out of her 
surplus she aided in supplying the necessities of others, and also a rice 
growing State, in which almost alone she encountered the competition 
of two of her cotton growing sisters, her contribution to the general 
cotton supply was always relatively great; relatively, because the cul- 
ture of the plant was spread over a wide extent of her counties, with 



218 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

wide areas of farms interposed between them devoted to otlier crops 
and cultivated b}'^ different labor. 

No St lie could claim pre-eminence as a cotton State before the intro- 
duction of the spinning machines of Hargreaves and Arkwright, which 
made possible the rapid process of manufacture needed to supply rap- 
idly growing wants; or before the invention of Whitney's cotton gin, 
which made also possible full supplies of the cotton wool prepared for 
the loom. No State could be a cotton State when the cotton plant was cul- 
tivated in little patches, and when the staple was picked out by the nim- 
ble fingers of the females of the family gathered in the evening around 
the "light-wood knot" fire, when the out-door duties of the farm were 
over. And until those inventions the lands that now form the cotton 
States had had no impulse to bring them out of the wilderness, because 
there was then no known crop that would compensate by its profits for 
the costs, the toils and the perils of converting the boundless forests 
into the subsequently equally boundless cotton fields. The two inven- 
tions in a very brief time changed all this, and the cotton States, made 
so by their marvellous adaptrition by soil and climate, came into exist- 
ence, most potent factors in shaping the great destiny of the United 
States. 

By way of contrast, look back at the status of cotton before and sub- 
sequent to the inventions of Hargreaves and Arkwright, and of Whit- 
ney. The spinning machine was invented, or applied, in 1786; the 
gin in 17^*3. To go back some years before these inventions: in 1770 
three bales of cotton were shipped from New York, ten bales from 
Charleston, four bales from Virginia and Maryland, and three barrels- 
full (!) from North Carolina. In 1793, the year of the invention of 
the cotton gin, the total shipments from the United States were 487,000 
pounds; in 1803, ten years later, they had increased to 41,105,023. 

There was no systematic attempt at crop reporting until 1825, when 
the crop of the previous year was first ascertained by the methods now, 
in the main, pursued ; consequently, there is no accurate knowledge of 
what was done previous to that time. As a curious fact, it may be 
stated that the cotton-press had not come into use, and that until a 
comparatively recent time the loose cotton was thrown into a long bag 
closed at one end, and compressed into smaller compass by men or 
boys placed in the bag and stamping upon it until there was a weight 
of about 250 pounds attained ; the mouth of the bag, whose whole 
length was about twelve feet, was then sewed up, and around each 
corner was passed a strong cord, which inclosed some of the cotton and 
formed four knobs by which the unwieldy mass was more conveniently 
handled. The returns made in 1825 for the crop of 1824 showed that 
North Carolina had been doing something — 40,000 bales as compared 
with 134,518 for South Carolina for the same year; and for 1825 and 
1820, 72,000 and 88,480 respectively for North Caro ina, and 97,000 and 
111,978 for the other; a continual gain for the one, a steady loss — at 
that period — for the other. 

Subsequently, after 1820, the returns were made on the basis of ship- 
ments f(om the ports, one port in each State being selected as the typi- 
cal p^rt of such State. Wilmington speaks for Nor:h Corolina, and for 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUrTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 219 

many years, with commendable strength of voice, though it must be 
admitted with steadily diminishing volume. Thus in 1826-7 112,811 
bales were exported from that port. In 1830 the exports had fallen to 
36,540, and in 1846-7 as low as 6,061 bales. This was not because of 
the decrease of production in North Carolina, but because new avenues 
of transportation had been provided. The construction of certain rail- 
roads had borne to Charleston much of what had been formerly taken 
to Wilmington, and other roads had created over-land transportation 
by which much of North Carolina cotton was taken direct to Northern 
ports or t hose of Virginia. The shipments from Wilmington were made 
in small coasting sailing vessels, and there was no foreign export what- 
ever. In later years the extension of railroads as competitors with the 
cotton bearing lines, the erection of cotton compresses, the dee{)ening 
of the water on the bar, and the marked increase of the depth of water, 
permitting the admission of large steamships to the wharves of the city, 
has not only restored its business, but increased it. The receipts for 
the season of 1890-1 were 187,000 bales, three-fourths of which were 
shipped to Europe in steamships, and for the season of 1891-2, the 
receipts have reached 160,000 bales. 

The quality of the North Carolina cotton is as good as that of any of 
the cotton States where upland cotton is produced — in some counties, 
better. The crop of Orange County has never been a large one, even 
before the detachment from it of Durham County, rarely exceeding 
3,000 bales annually. Yet its superiority, which is still maintained, 
was recognized three-quarters of a century ago; and it brouglit in the 
market half a cent more in the pound than corresponding grades from 
elsewhere. The same superiority was recognized in the county of 
Anson, where the crop has long been a relatively large one— from 
10,000 to 15,000 annual'y; and "Anson creams" are still in large 
demand in the Liverpool market at advanced prices. It is another 
feature in the North Carolina cotton culture that less acreage is occu- 
pied in this State to the production of a bale of cotton than in the appa- 
rently more favored States south of it. In 1889-90, the yield was 0.44 
of a bale to the acre, or 2.29 acres to the bale; in South Carolina, the 
same season, it was 38 of a bale to the acre, or 2.66 acres to the bale. 

It is interesting to know how large a number of the counties in the 
State engage in the cotton culture, some of them, it is true, on a very 
diminutive scale. There are ninety-six counties in the State; of these 
all except the four mountain counties, Cherokee, Jackson, Madison and 
Mitchell, the middle counties of Person, Rockingham and Surry, and 
the coast county of Dare, are cotton producers, some on a very small 
scale, from one to five bales. The largest producer in the crop of 1889, 
as set forth in the Census Report for 1890, was Mecklenburg with a crop 
of 22,709 bales, followed by Wake with 19,392. The smallest crop was 
produced in Forsyth, Stokes and Watauga, each with one bale, and 
Caswell with two. The transmontane counties, usually regardtd 
beyond the pale of the cotton belt, produced. Buncombe, five bales; 
Haywood, eight; Henderson, nineteen ; Yancey, five. Clay, Graham, 
Macon and 'J ran sylvan ia are omitted in the tabulation. Their produc- 
tion, if any, was small. 



2'M) HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



THE CROP OF 1889. 

The Census Bureau issues the following statement of the crop of 
1889, which establishes the crop for that year at 336,245 bales, on an 
acreage of 1,147,20(3. In 1879 the crop was 389,588, on an acreage of 

898,158 — a decrease in the production of the last crop of 53,353 bales, 
on an increa.se of acreage of 254,051, due to unfavorable weather 
conditions: 

Counties. Acres. Bales. 

Alamance - 614 210 

Alexander 1.071 368 

Anson 42.481 10.822 

Beaufort 1 o.8S7 5,056 

Bertie 21.501 5.512 

Bladen .. 7,292 2.281 

Brunswick 1,049 882 

Buncombe 12 5 

Burke 62 28 

Cabarrus.. .- 21,294 7,102 

Caldwell -... 160 38 

Camden - - 4,155 1 . 240 

Carteret - . 2,600 690 

Caswell 4 2 

Catawba 9.147 2.412 

Chatham 18,518 5.062 

Chowan 6.282 2.868 

Cleveland 28.230 10.215 

Columbus - 7.656 2,340 

Craven 11,059 2.619 

Cumberland 17.248 5.248 

Currituck 1,188 877 

Davidson - - 2. 871 756 

Davie 2.061 415 

Duplin - - - 1 0.280 2.81 8 

Durham 4.059 1,009 

Edgecombe ...: 53,458 18,488 

For.syth -. 1 1 

Franklin 32,757 8,443 

Gaston - 18.038 6.620 

Gates 8.601 2.216 

Granville 2.803 982 

Greene _ 22.183 7.388 

Guilford ...- 428 185 

Halifax 45. .567 8.485 

Harnett 15,191 4,326 

Haywood 31 8 

Henderson 26 19 

Hertford 15.059 5, 185 

Hyde 1,461 369 

Tredell 17,849 4.868 

.Jolinston 45. 1 1 1 8. <)(i4 

Jones 12.462 2.968 

Lenoir 23.770 5.936 

Lincoln 11,344 3,584 

McDowell - 22 6 

Martin 20,275 5.048 

Mecklenburg 61,808 22,709 

Montgomery 7,811 1 ,467 

Moore 11,534 2,998 

Nash 31.402 8,571 



Aoincui/rrHAL rnoDrcTs of north ( akui.ina. 221 

Comities. Acres. Bdlcs. 

New Hanover 91 22 

Northampton 33,792 6..'i87 

Onslow 6,127 1,720 

Granite 3,729 1.034 

Pamlico j 5,722 1,654 

Pasquotank 4,299 1,150 

Pender 2,026 567 

Perquimans 7,569 2.236 

Pitt --- 39.369 12.493 

Polk 2,013 567 

Randolph 2,101 628 

Richmond 44,298 17.943 

Robeson 45,393 16,204 

Rowan 16.228 3.688 

Rutherford 11,864 3,688 

.Sam]).son 19,123 5.290 

Stanlv 1 1 .296 2.457 

Hurry 2 1 

Tyrrell 2,709 450 

Union 36,838 8. 889 

Vance 6,787 1.331 

AVake 56.962 19.382 

Warren 19.963 3.319 

Washington 6,918 1,811 

Watauga. - 5 1 

Wavne ..„ 35,951 12.394 

Wilkes.. 21 16 

Wilson 33,285 11,129 

Yadkin 22 5 

Total ...1,147.2(19 336.249 

Jackson County is elsewhere unofficially credited with the product 
of three bales of cotton on four acres of ground. Part of its territory 
is south of the mountains, and part of it is as well adapted to cotton 
as the adjacent lands of South Carolina. 

PEANUTS. 

Mankind is influenced very often by very trivial causes, and human 
afiairs shaped or modified by very insignificant agencies. It is not 
always the important that has deepest impression or control. "With the 
gravest concerns is intermingled the warp of the most insignificant 
material, as well sustains the axiom that it is but a step from the sub- 
lime to the ridiculous, from the grave to the gay, from tragedy to side- 
splitting comedy. The part played by the peanut in statesmanship, 
and in the many phases of the drama, is undeniable in its importance, 
yet ludicrous in its application. Yet the affairs of the nation, or of 
States, would lose half their intensity of interest if the fervors of 
thought and the fires of eloquence were not fed by the constant crack- 
ling of peanut shells and the steady mastication of the liberated nut ; 
and in the histrionic world tragedy would lose half its poignancy, and 
comedy half its zest, but for the constant accompaniment of the same 
providential stimulus. The peanut is now accepted as the national 
nut, indispensable to the working of the legislative brain, equally so 
as proper elaborator of theatrical humor and appreciation. 

North Carolina had the honor of directly introducing this priceless 



222 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

boon, directly in connectioa with the introduction of the African slave, 
very far removed from estimation as a boon. But the two came in 
to^i^ether, the negro captive bringing along with him in the earlier days 
of the slave trade, before the sense of outraged humanity had enforced 
the horrors of the dreadful "' middle passage," when the slave was 
transported as a passenger, with all the liberties of one, and before he 
was driven under hatches to conceal his presence as a contraband ; 
bringing with him, among his household gods, his bene, his okra, and 
his peiuuts, all indigenous African products. On the Carolina coast, 
both of the North and South States, these plants thrive with the luxu- 
riance with which they Nourished in their native soil and under their 
native sun; and long time ago, in both South and North Carolina, all 
these plants entered into the daily us9 of whites and negroes, and, for 
many years, without adoption by the other colonies. The bene plant 
has gone little outside of South Carolina; only of late years has the 
okra become of wider use, and even now not a univ^ersal favorite, or 
its uses well understood ; and the peanut was slow in making national 
fame, and becoming conspicuous in legislative halls or in the galleries 
of theatres. Perhaps it is not more than three-quarters of a century 
ao-o that it burst its provincial bounds and went forth conquering and 
to conquer. 

Arachis hypogxa, the botanical litle, has many local names, ground 
pea, ground nut, peanut, pindar, goober, but is recognized and wel- 
comed by any one of these names ; for under whatever disguise, there 
is no concealment of its merits. The most extensive cultivation for 
purposes of export was on the coast of North Carolina, between the 
South Carolina line and Baaufort; and the most eligible soil was found 
upon the immediate coast in Onslow County, where the sand}' loam of 
the soil has a large natural admixture of shell lime, and this section 
continues to be, in this State, the largest source of supply. The average 
vield is about thirty bushels to the acre, with an annual production of 
from 125,000 to 150,000 bushels, with a value of $1.25, or less, per 
bushel; for increasing production elsewhere has had the usual effect of 
lowering values. At one time North Carolina had almost tiie monopoly 
of the domestic supply; but Tennessee and Virginia, especially the lat- 
ter, now raise crops far in excess of those of North Carolina. 

Wilmington is the chief market in this State for the home crop. In 
recent years machinery has been devised to separate the nuts from the 
tangle of roots and vines which once offered serious impediments to the 
enlargement of the crop; but little trouble now exists in tiie prepara- 
tion of the crop for maikct. 

Apart from its value as an edible nut, the peanut has high value as 
an oil producer. As an illuminator it has high value; as a lubricator 
it })roves an excellent substituie for machine oil, having very little 
tendency to gum, and as a table oil it is so little inferior to olive 
oil that thou.sands of gallons of peanut oil have gone lo Italy and 
made a return voyage to the United States to be welcomed by e{)icures 
and connoisseurs as the " right Florence." The oil cake is ol the high- 
est value for stock, and the plant has .so many merits that its culture 
demands much wider extension. 



THE PORTS AND HARBORS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 223 

THE PORTS AND HARBORS OF NORTH 

CAROLINA. 

A'ong the coast of this State, extending from Back Ba}', within the 
Virginia boundary, nearly to the South CaroHna hne, is a series of 
narrow barriers of land, interspersed with marshy, rush-covered flats, 
which seem to have been purposely interposed by nature between the 
tumultuous outside ocean and the placid expanses of water lying 
within ; inland seas, with all the repose and safety of interior lakes, yet 
with some of the features of the outside coast lines, inasmuch as the 
eye sweeps sometimes over a boundless stretch of waters, enlivened 
with all the animation of the maritime landscape, the full-spread sails 
of the merchantman, the white wings of the Ashing craft, or the trail- 
ing smoke of the swift flying steamer, until it rests far away upon the 
sandy beach and the thin fringe of shrubbery that forms the back- 
ground. These inland waters, the Sounds, as they are known, are in 
themselves so smooth as to constitute safe harbors from the perils of the 
ocean, deep and navigable, but interrupted by shoals and bars, which 
effectually forbid within them the existence of commercial ports 
available for the purposes of distant commerce, but in the deep bays 
and estuaries providing ports for the vcsse's engaged in the coasting 
trade, a class of shipping at one time also having a large West India 
trade. 

But, important as these inside bays and ports are and always will 
be, their importance must always be controlled by the access to them 
from the open sea, and which is imperatively dominated by the location 
and permanency of the inlets, and the depth of water upon their bars. 

In the history of our coast there is nothing that presents itself as so 
unstable and capricious as these inlets, almost literally here to-day, 
there to-morrow. Once there were inlets into Currituck Sound, with 
good de]:)th of water; now there are none — one closed in 1775, one in 
1828. Opposite the eastern opening of Albemai le Sound was once an 
inlet; now occupied by dangerous Kitty Hawk and the fatal Killawil 
dunes. A little farther south, opposite Roanoke Island, was once the 
deep inlet of Nag's Head, through which the earliest English adven- 
turers made their entrance and found a convenient landing-place on 
the shores of the famous island. That inlet has long been closed, and 
on the solid land which now fills its channel stands the hotel which 
forms the noted summer resort of "Nag's Head." Opposite the lower 
end of Roanoke Island opens Oregon Inlet, which for many years has 
provided safe entrance for vessels drawing ten to twelve feet of water 
into the waters of the sound. Thence down the coast, through the very 
thin line of "banks," are two or three unsteady, unsafe entrances, 
opening and closing at the will of the outside waters. Passing down 
the coast opens Hatteras Inlet, not far from the cape of that name; 
and this, with Currituck Inlet, forms the usual most reliable access to 
the inland waters of the great sounds, Pamlico and Albemarle. 



224 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Along these sounds, at various points deep and broad esluaries extend 
back to the mouths of hirge rivers, the Chowan, the Roanoke, the Tar, 
the Neuse, together with such streams as the Pasquotank, which in its 
relation to the artificial channel of the Dismal Swamp Canal, has given 
existence to one of the most thriving of these inland ports — Elizabeth 
City. Thus along these inland waters have grown up ports of impor- 
tance, to be estimated more by their value in relation to domestic trade 
than to foreign commerce; for Washington and Newbern, both possess- 
ing fine harbors and easy access, are controlled by the limitations 
imposed by the depth of water in the inlets or on the shoals within the 
channels, so that the foreign trade once enjoyed by them, and carried 
on in a smaller class of vessels than now regarded as profitably adapted 
to foreign trade, is now practically suspended. But in their interior 
operations they are ports with a magnitude of business that emphasizes 
the prosperity of the sections of country tributary to them, and the 
waters of the sounds are enlivened with fleets bearing away the limit- 
less variety of contributions to American commercial prosperity — cotton, 
lumber, shingles, naval stores, corn, the products of truck farming, etc. 

Just under Cape Lookout opens, between Core and Bogue Sounds, 
and at the mouth of Newport River, the inlet which lets into Beaufort 
harbor. This is entered over a bar giving more water than any harbor 
on the coast, surpa.ssed only by the entrance into the Chesapeake, and 
Port Royal harbor, in South Carolina. Vessels drawing twenty-three 
feet enter readily from the sea, and, in twenty minutes, are lying snugly 
at their anchorage or at their wharves. It is entered at all times, except 
against a north or north-west wind. It is a harbor of refuge in time of 
storm, from the enemy in time of war, a rendezvous chosen as the basis 
of naval operations, as, during the war of the Revolution, when the 
fleet destined for the attack on Charleston first concentrated here; when, 
in the war of 1812, captured prizes were brought in here for adjudica- 
tion, and when, in the late war, the harbor was filled with the war ves- 
sels and transports of the Federal Government. The water within the 
harbor is sufficient for the largest merchant vessels, yet it is not a com- 
mercial port of value, for the reason that no great navigable stream 
brings to it the riches of the interior, and because the single line of 
railroad which reaches it has not yet been able to divert the current of 
traffic from its accustomed channel. 

Down the coast, below Beaufort, several inlets open into the sounds 
at the mouths of tide-water rivers, such as White Oak and New River. 
r>at the water on their bars is shallow, and these bars so shifting as to 
forbid the expectation that they will ever add to the number, value or 
fame of our ports and harbors. 

Between the island known as Smith's Island, at the southern extremity 
of which is the dreaded Cape Fear, the " jrromontorium tremendum" of 
DeBry's map, and the main land on the west, pours in the Cape Fear 
River, the only large river in the State — the only one, in fact, between 
the Hudson and the Savannah that makes directly into the ocean, for, 
before reaching it, all the others are swallowed in long and wide bays, 
estuaries or sounds. The Cape Fear, with its tributaries, drains an area 




SUB-TROPICAL FLORA, EASTERN N. C. 



THE PORTS AND HARBORS OF NORTH ( AROI.INA. 225 

of between 6,000 and 8,000 square miles of lerritory, and pours out a 
heavy volume into the sea. Here might be expected a harbor of eas}^ 
entrance and ample capacity. Therefore we find a New England colony 
of adventurers seeking .settlement and homes within its shelter in 1660, 
followed by a colony from Barbadoes in 1662-'63, and thenceforward 
continued occupation, founding of towns, opening up of plantations, 
enlargement of population and increase of wealth up to the present 
da}'. In early times the class of merchant vessels, or even of war ves- 
sels, was small and draft light, so that the question of depth of water 
on the bar and in the inner channels never seemed to have been pre- 
sented. In all probability there never was occasion for it, for there was 
but a single entrance — that between Smith's and Uak Islands, and that 
secured sufficient water for all vessels using the harbor. But in 17t3l 
a long-continued tempest cut through the banks between Smith's Island 
and what was long afterwards known as Federal Point, forming, until 
recently clf»sed, what was known as New Inlet. The waters turned into 
this new channel in time attained a depth of water equal to that on 
the old or main bar, and eventually reduced the depth of water on 
that, in 1839, to about nine feet at low water, the New Inlet bar at the 
same time showing ten feet, and becoming the channel through which 
most of the coasting trade was conducted. This reduction in depth 
involved diminution in trade, and Wilmington was seriously menaced 
with the loss of its most valuable commerce. Therefore the State of 
North Carolina began the work of relief, continuing it from 1823 to 
1828, when the General Government very properly assumed the duty 
and the cost. The operations for many years consisted of efforts to 
deepen and clear the channel of the river for some miles down by 
dredging, but chiefly by the construction of jetties, and after some year 
labor and a large expenditure of money, a gain of two or more feet in 
depth was effected. The work was suspended, and resumed in 1852, 
and directed to attempts to close the New Inlet by closing the entrance 
between Smith's and Zeke's Islands, and fair progress was made, when, 
in September, 1857, a great storm swept away nearly all that had been 
accomplished, and efforts were abandoned until 1870, when they were 
resumed with determined purpose and with large appropriations. This 
has been done until the breach between Smith's and Zeke's Islands was 
closed, and eventually the flow through New Inlet finally checked. This 
is not the place for the details of this important work, the present object 
being only to show by what methods the usefulness of the Cape Fear 
River, in its relation to material and domestic commerce, has been 
restored. This has been done by the erection of a solid dam more than 
a mile in length and with a breadth of from 90 to 125 feet, knit together 
by natural grass and oyster shells, until it is apparently impregnable to 
the assaults of the fiercest tempests. The effect on the depth of water 
on the main bar was not at once appreciable; but in two or three years, 
and assisted by the process of suction dredges, a great gain has been 
made, so that whereas in 1878, when the shortest soundings in the 
Bald Head Channel were nine feet, in 1882 they were fourteen feet, and 
now, in 1892, there is seventeen to eighteen feet at low water, which, 
15 



220 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

with an average rise of the tide of four and a half feet, gives a depth of 
from twenty-one and a half to twenty-two and a half feet. Last year 
a vessel drawing twenty-one and a half feet, coming in and going out, 
went over easily. In extraordinary spring tides there is a depth of 
twenty-four ftet. The Government is now at work with purpose to 
deepen the water on the bar to twenty-six feet, or thirty, which is 
thought to be practicable. Doing this, a safe and deep harbor is found 
inside at Southport and thence up to Wilmington, with the gains already 
made, in a channel which affords, up to the wharves, a depth of from 
sixteen to twenty feet. 

The importance of these improvements are already recognized 
nationally and in their relation to the business of Wilmington. The 
customs receipts have quadrupled; and as vessels of large tonnage can 
now cross the bar and came up to the city wharves for freight, the cot- 
ton receipts of the port have mounted up annually to near!}' two hun- 
dred thousand bales, and they find shipment in a class of vessels which 
had never entered the port until the improvements in the channel were 
made — the freight steamships of from 1,200 to l,hOO tons burden. 

The improvements which affect beneficially both Wilmington and 
Southport are none the less important to the latter than to the former. 
Southport has a capacious land-locked harbor, of great depth and free 
from dangerous shoals, and it becomes a safe harbor of refuge during 
storms, and in cases of disablement of ve.«sels at sea by storm or other 
accident; and the benefits already accrued are ample compensation for 
the cost of the various work. The increased accessibility of the harbor 
also gives it great value as a coaling station, lying in the path of an 
enormous coasting and Gulf trade, and the first port that can be reached 
by vessels bound north who find themselves short of supplies. The 
coal will be largely supplied by the North Carolina mines. 

Wilmington, or the Cape Fear River harbor, during the late war 
illustrated some peculiar features of value. With its ease of access it 
was also readily defensible. One of its fortifications successfully repelled 
the first as.saults of one of the largest and strongest squadrons and the 
fiercest and most terrible bombardments known in naval annals. It 
did indeed succumb in the second and more formidable attempt; but 
not until after three or more years of efibrt to capture or to close the 
port were the blockading vessels, which alone kept the Southern States 
in communication with the outer world and kept up some semblance 
of trade, effectually excluded. It is stated th it the number of block- 
aders, as they were called, those that ran the gauntlet and got in safely 
with their cargoes, was, from May 20, 1863, to December 31, 1864, about 
2G0; prior to May 20, 1863, 15; and after December 31, 1864, 10, 
making a total of 285. 

South, or rather west, running down the coast which at the mouth 
of the Cape Fear makes a course at right angles with its former direc- 
tion, there are only two harbors, both of minor importance — Lockwood's 
Folly and Shallotte— with capacious and safe anchorage inside, but 
with little more than five feet water on the bar. 



THK 1 ORTS AND HARIJOKS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 227 

The following is of interest in a material point of view: "In 1875 a 
charter was granted by our State Legislature for a canal from the South 
Carolina line to AHrginia with a view of avoiding the perils of the out- 
side voyage past the dangerous capes on the coast. A survey was made 
by the United States Government during the same year, and the scheme 
was reported to be practicable, and that by utilizing forty-seven miles 
of the navigable north east branch of the Cape Fear River and other 
intermediatp streams it would only require about forty miles of canal 
to connect Wilmington with Pamlico Sound and all the other inland 
water system of North Carolina, the Neuse, Tar, Roanoke and Chowan 
Rivers and the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds into which they flow, 
and thence by the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Chesapeake and 
Albemarle Canal with the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately 
by natural and artific'al water-ways already in use to make connection 
with the harbor of New York by an altogether inland route. And it 
was also ascertained that it only requires four miles of canal at Oak 
Island, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and five miles between 
Little River and Waccamaw River to connect the Cape Fear, Wacca- 
maw, Pee Dee and Smtee Rivers, thus extending the inland water 
route to Georgetown, Charleston and Savannah." 



228 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



TRUCK FARMING. 

All industry of so little consequence in the past as to have received 
little or no consideration in the view of the occupations and resources 
of the State, has, within a few years, grown to such magnitude as to 
rank among the foremost as a money resource, and to have solved, 
almost at one happy stroke, the problem presented to that important 
section of the State contiguous to the coast. 

There the soil, the conditions of locality, and the habits of the 
people, encouraged neither diversity of crops nor of occupation. The 
fixed customs of generations had established an unbroken routine of 
field crops, of cotton, corn, potatoes and peas, tlie first only to be 
depended on as a money crop; outside of the field, the forest crops of 
timber, lumber and naval stores; and at a special and limited period 
of the year the products of the fisheries, wliich, while they brought 
food to many, brought money to few. The production of cotton was 
in excess of profitable demand, and the conditions of its cultivation 
more often wrought loss than profit. The forests were being exhausted, 
reducing the area of work and the abundance of supply ; in large sections 
the abandonment of the industries connected with it, or their restriction 
to very narrow limits; and gloom and despondency unavoidably settled 
heavily upon the faces of those who looked into the darkening vista of 
the future. 

The skies were suddenly, unexpectedly and most effectually cl-ared; 
hope cheered awakened efibrt; lands of hitherto despised consideration 
suddenly assumed an almost priceless value; the '" little things" that 
the cotton planter had counted with contempt sprung to the head and 
ranked as leaders; restless industry and exhaustless energy brushed 
aside listless indolence and hopeless despondence, and great sections at 
once put on new life and gloried in the sunshine of a more than restored 
prosperity. 

Many 3-ears ago the country around Norfolk, \'a., was proven to be 
suitable for the early perfection of vegetables and small fruits, and 
with existing facilities for transportation a market in the Northern cities 
was always assured. Trucking early became the important industry 
of that section. When attention was directed to Florida, first as a 
health resort, then as the future land of the orange and other fruits, 
the increase of travel and the necessities of quick transportation 
enforced the introduction of swift steamships and the extension of rail- 
road lines; and thus Florida first realized the advantage she possessed 
in a semi-tropical climate, in which the growth of vegetables was 
perpetual except during the scorching heats of summer, and where 
vegetables matured at the very jieriod when, at the North, the tardy 
spring was still held in the icy grip of winter, and when the products 
of the garden would be welcomed with the more eagerness because of 
the long antecedent deprivation to which the consumers of vegetables 
had been subjected. Never was a greater blessing bestowed upon the 



TKLCIC l'Ai;MIN(i. 229 

penaed-up sufferers in the arid cities than the fresh, ripened, natural- 
flavored gifts of Florida. The cities were blessed, and Florida pros- 
pered. Georgia followed in the same happy venture, and so did South 
Carolina with equal success ; and then portions of North Carolina began 
to test the probabilities of success here. There was no reason why she 
should fail. The soils all along the coast were almost identical, the 
localities that would be chosen as suitable not unlike in conditions; 
and, because the warm waters of the Gulf Stream washed the coasts of 
all, there could not be very serious dissimilarities in climate, only, that 
as the Gulf Stream flows gradually upwards in its northerly course, so 
do the waves of temperature progress northwardly in the same succes- 
sive flood, imparting their heats in progressive fervor. Thus, while 
Florida would be the first where maturity was developed, so succes- 
sively would Georgia, South Carolina and Norih Carolina, until Vir- 
ginia was reached, make this welcome vernal offering. And this, in 
the course of experience, has proved to be invariable. 

Perhaps the first large and success- ful tests of what in the beginning 
were rather timid trusts in the value of theories were made at Rocky 
Point, on the north-east branch of the Cape Fear River, in the present 
county of Pender, by Mr. G. Z. French, now postmaster at Wilmington. 
No injustice is designed, if he is named, when others not known to the 
waiter be equal pioneers in the new industry. Success was attained in 
the very early production, in large quantity, of peas, cabbage, beans, 
potatoes, asparagus, squashes, cucumbers, melons, strawberries, etc., and 
the truck farm at Rocky Point is still a model and a prosperous one. 
As it is the purpose of this article to encourage by example, it falls 
within its province to give the following items of the operations of this 
year. Mr. French gives us the following items respecting the operations 
of the present season: Ttie farm has 700 acres in truck, of which there 
were thir.y acres in peas, seven in Irish potatoes, five in radishes, seven 
in beans, twenty in strawberries, two in bee's, and the rest in melons, 
cucumbers, turnips, field crops, etc 

Around Rocky Point there are 100 acres in strawberries. The Wil- 
mington Messenger of June 18, 1892, makes the following statement 
respecting the strawberry crop of the Cape Fear section : 

"Mr. A. S. Maynard, representing the California Fruit Transportation 
Comi)any, who has been here two weeks, looking after the shipment of 
strawberries in the patent refrigerator cars of his company, will leave 
toda}^ as the season is about over. He tells us that from Wilmington 
and points on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad this season he has 
bandied forty-five cars of berries. This means 300,000 quarts of straw- 
berries, and the receipts in monev to the growers aggregates the pretty 
sum of $40,000." [ 

The truck crops are intermediate between those of Charleston and 
Norfolk. They are shipped to the Northern market by quick freight 
trains. 

Successful truck farming rapidly followed or accompanied the experi- 
ment at Rocky Point. Truck farms were established at Magnolia, 
Warsaw and Goldsboro, on tlie Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, and 



230 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

to some extent at stations on that road farther north. At Goldsboro 
much attention was given to the cultivation of the strawberry. On the 
Atlantic and North Carolina road much trucking is done, mostly in the 
least perishable of early fruits and vegetables — strawberries, and pota- 
toes, peas and beans. But the centre of the trucking interest is around 
Newbern, and, as that may be considered the typical illustration of the 
industry, somewhat full details are not only permissible but useful. 

The main trucking area of the Newbern gardens lies between the 
Neuse and Trent Rivers, and occupies about 8,000 acres. The land is 
a dead level throughout nearly its whole extent except on the farms of 
Hackburn ct Willett, where there is an outcrop of heavy clayey soil, 
forming a broken elongated ridge of several hundred yards in length 
with a breadth of two hundred yards, and covered with a heavy growth 
of large oaks, hickories, poplars, pines and otiier hard-wood trees. 
Everywhere else the land is level, much of it originally in swamp, and, 
when dry, with a soil of loose sandy loam. Drainage has now effaced 
all traces of swamp except along the drainage canals and on the banks 
of tide-water creeks, which reach back to considerable extent from the 
rivers on either side. 

The whole of this area of 8,000 acres now presents the same appear- 
ance, the results of careful culture, nice tillage and intelligent farming. 
The soil, not naturally fertile, is readily responsive to fertilizers, and is 
kept up to a high standard by yenrly liberal applications of manures, 
both domestic and commercial. The results are heavy annual crops of 
the many subjects of cultivation, diminished only by the casualties of 
untimely late frosts, ftom which even the mild coast section is not 
altogether exempt. The location of Newbern, with the advantages of 
both swift water and railroad transportation, admits the culture of a 
greater variet}' of vegetables than is largely attempted elsewhere. 

The trucking business of Newbern is so great as to be a subject of 
State interest, and a detailed notice of its work will be no disparage- 
ment to other communities engaging in the same business, because, in 
the first place, from Newbern alone were full statistics attainable; and 
again, because the industr}"^ is pursued to greater extent there than 
elsewhere in the State; and again, because the success achieved there 
will stimulate other places possessing similar conditions of soil, locality 
and conveniences for transportation. 

Of the season for 1891, Mr. W. PI. Oliver makes the following state- 
ment, which was founded upon authentic data at the close of that 
season : 

The present truck season, which is now about to close, has been an 
extraordinary one. The quantity of truck which has been produced 
has been enormous. In regard to the quantity, during the shipping 
season the railroad and two steamships have been taxed to the utmost 
of their capacity to move it. The railroad company has run from one 
to three trains daily, carrying from 3,000 to 4,000 barrels and boxes 
each train; the steamer Neuse has made three trips per week carrying 
from 4,000 to 4,500 barrels and boxes each trip; the steamer Newbern 
has made two trips each week carrying from 2,000 to 2,500 barrels and 
boxes each trip. 



TRUCK FARMING 



231 



The railroad has shipped seven'y train loads, say 210,000 

The steamer Neuso has taken 80,000 

The steamer Newbern has taken 60,000 

350,000 

boxes and barrel^ consisting of strawberries, asparagus, green peas, 
cabbiiges, beans, kale, beets, turnip?, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, cucum- 
bers, egg plants, radishes, etc. 

The prices realized for the above have been extraordinary, and the 
amount realized- from the sales of them has by the most conservative 
estimate reached the sum of $750,000; which has realized, after deduct- 
ing freight and expenses, over $500,000 to our farmers. '1 he calcula- 
tion is based upon the following: 

There was shipped at least 100,000 barrels of Irish potatoes; some of 
these potatoes sold at $7.00 per barrel, many at $6.00, a large quantity 
at $5.50 per barrel, doubtless realizing $5.00 per barrel, which would 

make—- - $500,000 

Two hundred and fifty thousand barrels and boxes of other 

articles as above at $1.00 each 250,000 

$750,000 

The largest farms are conducted by Messrs. Hackburn & Willett, 
Joseph Rheim, W. F. Crockett, W. H. Gray, Grants & Cromwell, Graham 

Richard.'^on, Weatherlv & Carmon, Henry Caleb, Hodges, William 

Dunn, E. R. Dudley," John S. McGowan, Watson & Daniels, and Joe 
Sweet. The farms of all these gentlemen are cultivated with the nicety 
of a garden, with methodical adaptation of means to ends, and with 
the most business-like relations to economy of management. 

It is desirable to give an illustration of the truck business by some 
of its results. It is impossible, and it is not within the scope of this 
publication to go into specifications. Only one example is selected, 
because of the great extent of the farm and the variety of operations 
involved in its conduct. 

From the farm of Hackburn & Willett were sold last year 9,000 bar- 
rels of potatoes for $36,000; 100,000 head of cabbage for $12,500; 2,000 
bunches spinach for $2,500 ; 2,000 boxes beans, $2,000 ; 1,000 boxes peas, 
$1,000; 5,000 bunches asparagus, $16,000; radish crop, $500; beets, 
$400; 4,000 barrels citron melons, $4,000; tomatoes, $1,000; sales of 
milk, $4,000; a total of $65,000. 

On the farm are 170 head of cattle of the best breeds, 66 horses and 
139 hogs, a dairy, a saw-mill for the use of the box factory, a fertilizer 
factory, of which this farm uses 350 tons of its own manufacture. 

For this year the information given is tbat there are 600 acres in 
truck and 300 in oats and grass. Of the vegetable crops were planted 
200 acres in potatoes. 100 "in cabbage, 50 in peas, 50 in beans, 50 in 
cucumbers, 50 in muskmelons, 10 in radishes, 10 in beets, 30 in aspara- 
gus, 25 in tomatoes, 15 in spinach. Seven hundred and fifty barrels 
of potatoes were planted. 



232 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The crops here mature fifteen days before tbose around Xorfoll:. and 
are intermediate between those of that section and those of Charleston. 

To illustrate the extent of this year s operations, the following from 
a recent Newbern paper is quoted : 

"Great quantities of truck are now leaving Newbern and the country 
near. One day the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad carried about 
thirty car-loads, and the s'eamer Xen.^r took out 41,000 packages — 
23,000 barrels of potatoes and 18,000 boxes of beans. Saturday was a 
still greater shipping day. The steamer Enola took out 2,333 packages, 
and the railroad had, by fifty per cent., the largest shipment it has ever 
had in one day since the trucking began." 

Since railroad connection has been established between Washington 
and the main stem of the Coast Line system, an astonishing imjietus 
has been given to the trucking interests of that town, and the shipments 
this season of potatoes, cabbage, etc., have been very large. 

Elizabeth City has long been a heavy grower of potatoes, making 
two crops annually, and, in general trucking systems, adopting the 
crops and methods in favor around Norfolk. 

A business so new and already so extensive, a business which has 
found a value for lands hitherto unrecognized, which has given employ- 
ment where enforced idleness prevailed, which has brought comfort and 
competency where distress had long existed, which has rewarded indus- 
try and energy with ample returns, which has vivified and enriched a 
sluggish and almost hopeless section, which has encouraged otlier sec- 
tions to fall into the same footsteps, which has mnterial influence upon 
the welfare of the whole State, is, it is to be hoped, justification for the 
space here given to its rise, progress and happy results. 



SILK. 



SILK. 

This valuable article, either in its culture or manufacture, cannot he 
regarded as a product or industry of this State. Why it is not either the 
one or the other, is a question that has not been satisfactorily answered. 
There is a silent reproach, in the absence of a silk industry among us, 
to the intelligence, the industry, the patience of the people of North 
Carolina. For many hundred years the vine, the olive and the silk- 
worm have been inextricably associated as the industrial types of highly 
refined people — the adornments, the luxuries, the fountains of wealth 
to the nations who had lifted themselves up above the pursuit of those 
coarser industrial avocations common alike to man just emerged from 
barbarism to man attaining the upper stratum of culture and civiliza- 
tion. Wine, oil, silk — the jewels in that diadem with which society has 
crowned itself as splendid testimony to its highest achievements in its 
long conflict with the coarse habits and grosser gratifications of the 
appetites or the tastes which have impeded man in his aim at refine- 
ment. 

Why North Carolina has been so slow to adopt what nature had 
thrown in her way, and what practice had so long since proved to be 
feasible, is one of those questions which oftentimes may be asked with 
curiosity and surprise. It will be asked, for the time is coming, though 
it cannot be said to be at hand, when wine and silk, if not the olive oil 
(it may be our peanut oil), shall give to North Carolina the fame that 
now attaches to France and Italy. Nature planted the vine among us, 
from the very edges of the ocean beach to the valleys among our high 
mountains, with liberal and generous hand. She planted the mulberry 
with the same profasion, and she accompanied it with a robust native 
silkworm. But she gave both of them on the condition that the intel- 
ligence and the skill of man should, as in everything else adapted to 
human uses, be applied to their improvement. That the wild grape 
has been refined into the delicate Delaware, so should the rough, coarse 
native silkworm, with a more tender diet and a gentler care, be subdued 
to the refinement of the long-housed, long-coddled French and Italian 
worm, so long pampered as to have lapsed into infirmity and unable to 
perpetuate his kind. Recourse is annually had to China and Japan for 
eggs f )r every new crop, and France and Italy are no longer indepen- 
dent silk growers. And this is America's opportunity. As American 
grapes are free from disease, so are American silkworms, even those of 
European origin; and the United States might put herself in position 
to supply the necessities of Europe with healthy silkworm eggs if it 
were not her wiser policy to avail itself of the opportunity to establish 
her own .silk industry and throw off a dependence which annually costs 
her more than fifty millions of dollars. 

Silk and wine have proved the mainsprings of transatlantic national 
wealth ; have been powerful agents in the spread of commerce, thereby 
adding largely to geographical knowledge. Both of these, or rather 



234 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the source of their supply, are so emphatically at home in North 
Carolina as to entitle them to be classed as indigenous. A wild silk- 
worm is the representative of its foreign cousin, and the native mul- 
berry everywhere challenges to a trial of the silk industry. In truth 
the gauntlet was taken up, and that very long ago. 8ilk culture was 
the amusement of our grandmothers long before the Revolutionar}'- 
war, and tradition tells of smoothly-woven and splendidly colored 
gowns made by these venerable dames, the pride of the households and 
the envy of their horaespun-clad rivals; it also tells of consignments of 
raw silk and yarns and thread to the mother country, and the hope 
inspired in I^ngland that the means had been found to thwart the 
rivalry of her hereditary enemy, Franco. At a period long subsequent 
to the Revolution, and when the first bright anticipation had been 
falsified, there was a promised revival of hope. During the years 
1830-2 there was active renewal of interest in silk culture; the silk- 
worm was in every household: a speedy fortune was in every hand. 
Silk was on every tongue and filled every waking thought and gilded 
every sleeping dream. Then came the Alorus Multicaulis fever, wilder 
than the Dutch tulip mania of two centuries ago, and more ruinous, 
for it was not only disastrous to private fortune, but it blasted for many 
future years the vigor of the young industry. Speculation in multi- 
caulis buds became ihe rage. Some at first made fortunes; thousinds 
more were ruined; for multicaulis multiplied beyond any possible use, 
and could neither be sold or given away. The bubble burst, and col- 
lapsed more rapidly than it was blown up, and multicaulis and the 
silk-worm went down together in disgrace, amid the execrations of 
thousands of deceived enthusiasts. Rage seized the minds of the vic- 
tims, and the innocent mulberry, though tenacious of life as the hated 
Ailanthus, was so ruthlessly extirpated that, some years since, when an 
effort was made, in conjunction with certain French experts, to revive 
the silk industry, sufficient surviving plants could nowhere be found 
in the State except in the town of Fayetteville, as unfortunate in the 
multicaulis speculation as it has been in so much else. 

Mr. Edward Fasnach, of Raleigh, in 187G, made an intelligent and 
laborious effort to draw attention to this industry. He was a native of 
France, but long a resident of this country, and was convinced that 
North Carolina was naturally the land of silk and wine. He estab- 
lished near Raleigh a silk farm, and was so far successful as to have 
made some considerable shipments of cocoons to P>ance. He aban- 
doned his enterprise because, he says, the science of Pasteur had found 
and a})plied a remedy to the diseases of the silk-worm in France and 
Italy. How permanent that remedy is. is not known. It is certain 
that within the past few years the procurement of annual supplies of 
silk-worm eggs from China and Japan has been renewed. 

At present the cultivation of silk in North Carolina has no existence. 
Some efforts by F/ench adventurers to establish the industry in Cum- 
berland and Richmond Counties were not sincere, and were abandoned, 
to the loss of those whose generous credulity had been taxed for the 
support of fraudulent enterprises. 



SILK. 235 

The only suggestion of the silk industry at present known jn North 
Carolina is the silk-mill at Wadesboro, operated by a firm from New- 
Jersey, and a branch of one of the great silk-weaving establishments 
in that State. A large building in Wadesboro is occupied for that pur- 
pose, and appropriate machinery, operated by steam-power, is employed. 
There are 3d0 spindles and winders, 240 spindles and doublers, IGO 
spindles for spinning and GO for unveiling. The product is trams, fill- 
ing for silk-weaving, organzine and trams. The material used for con- 
version into threads and material used in making silk fabrics is Chinese 
and Japanese yarns. The output is about 1,500 pounds per month, 
which is forwarded to the parent mills in New Jersey. The enterprise 
has been so satisfactory as to have resulted this year in the doubling of 
the machinery. 

The following suggestions and information may be of value: 
Two hundred mulberry trees will grow very well on two acres of 
land. A good medium-sized tree will yield 150 pounds of leaves, which 
will give 30,000 pounds of leaves on two acres. As it takes seventeen 
pounds of leaves to make one pound of fresh cocoons, 30,000 pounds 
will give 1,705 pounds of fresh cocoons. The 1,763 pounds of fresh 
cocoons will make 588 pounds of dried cocoons. A ready market for 
these cocoons can be found in Philadelphia, through the medium of 
the Department of Agriculture. The expenses of cultivating two acres 
in trees, feeding the worms, etc., may be stated as follows: 

1 grown person, first ten days - $ 10 

3 boys or girls, first ten days. - . 6 

3 grown persons, second ten days 20 

5 boys or girls, second ten days 15 

3 grown persons, third ten days 30 

16 boys or girls, third ten days 38 

$129 

If a few dollars for food is added, a few days' work for pruning and 
cultivating the trees, and a few sundries, it would cover a'l the expenses, 
which would not exceed $100. 



236 HAND-BOOK OF >OHTH CAROLINA. 



MINERAL SPRINGS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Before the present facilities existed for rapid and comfortable transit 
from one portion of the .Stale to the other, there was Httle interest mani- 
fested in the question of health or pleasure resorts within our borders. 
If such were to be found, they were not thought worthy to compare 
with the established fame of Saratoga or the Virginia Springs. Fashion 
had set her stamp on these, and they were resorted to, not so much for 
the recovery of health as to comply with the requisitions of the usages 
of fashionable societ\'. A visit to Saratoga or the White Salj)hur was 
as much de ricjuer on the Southern i)e()ple as the performance of the 
grand tour was in former days upon the fashionables of England. 

There were two notable exceptions. The Warm Springs, now in 
Madison County, were once credited with subs'aiitial virtues, and ri»eu- 
matic old gentlemen annually submitted to the torments of the long 
jolting ride of hundreds of miles, in all the unalleviable discomforts of 
their old-fashioned gigs, with the hope that the thermal baths would 
make th*em lithe and blithe again, with the certain assurance that no 
luxuriance of the table and no delicacy of their room equipments would 
counteract the good effects of the waters. Then, at the other end of the 
State, were good old Shocco Springs, not to be named because their 
waters were ever of any possible service, but memorable for the genuine 
pleasure they brought as the resort of a somewhat unso[>histicated style 
and fashion, emphasized by gay equipage and splendid dresses, but tol- 
erant of plainnes', only exacting of good manners and decorous 
behavior, unmindful of the rigors of etiquette, welcoming each other 
in contempt of letters or forms of introduction, in all the exuberance 
of trustful good nature, all under the impulse of the common purpose 
to find the reward of their visit in the full enjoyment of sociability, 
hilarity and the inspiriting music of old Frank Johnson and his home- 
spun band. Shocco is now unknown to this generation. The tide of 
travel and of fashion has passed by it and left it high and dry, a sad 
memento of unsubstantial claim to fame. Warm Springs, on the other 
hand, has expanded into Hot Springs, splendid in its buildings and 
equipments, the favored subject of large investments of capital, the seat 
of fashion for Northern and North-western visitors, more indebted to 
them for its present brilliant reputation than to home appreciation, 
but giving to North Carolina abroad a position among health and 
pleasure resorts, long withheld because of long years of almost inacces- 
sible seclusion in the narrow gorges of the French Broad River. Shocco 
shrunk into insigniticance and disuse, ])artly from the calamities of war, 
but permanently because it was remote from the railroad, without which 
there was no recuperation. Warm Springs, on the other hand, expanded 
into Hot Springs by virtue of easy accessibility from all direclions given 
by railroad facilities, which embraced the whole continent; and then 
the marvellous and exceptional presence of water flowing, hot, in per- 
ennial stream from the depths of the e.irth, the tin? mountain surround- 



M]>KKAL SPRINGS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 237 

ings, the broad boisterous river, and the new juxtaposition of the choicest 
achievements of kixury and comfort to the simplest forms and methods 
of the unsophisticated wilderness — all these, rather than the superior 
virtues of its waters, have established for Hot Springs, almost alone 
among the mineral springs of North Carolina, a notoriety extended far 
beyond its territorial limits. 

The railroad development has been the chief agent in bringing to 
general knowledge and use the many valuable springs and pleasant 
resorts, which now make altogether needless those tedious and costly 
visits to the resorts of other States. Some few, indeed, like the Buffalo 
Springs, in Mecklenburg County, \"irginia, retain their hold upon habit 
and confidence, near our borders, with the simple usages to which we 
are habituated and with intrinsic virtues to which willing tribute is 
annually paid by hundreds of trustful devotees. There were found all 
over North Carolina, in localities widely separated from each other, 
springs of local fame, and even more than that; for far-away invalids 
painfully made their way to them, and many there were who might 
say, when they quaffed the healing waters, that they "took up their 
beds and walked." It is not therefore surprising that, when our con- 
stantly expanding railroad system reached places once difficult of 
approach, their solid yet once half-concealed virtues were recalled, 
brought now into prominence, and make them the trusted, favored and 
fashionable places some of them now are. 

It is proposed to speak of some of them, necessarily somewhat briefly, 
but fully enough to give a general conception of the character of the 
waters and the nature of the surrounding country. The selection of 
examples is made without reference to the superiority of one over 
another, but with the purpose of showing how profusely nature has 
distributed her curative waters, and how impartially she has made the 
east to show with the west, and how bountifully the Middle Section, 
equally with the others, has been provided. 

Among the early well-known springs in the west were the Wilson 
Springs, once in Lincoln County before its division, now in Cleveland, 
near Shelby, and known now as the 

CLEVELAND SPRINGS. 

These are about two miles from Shelbv, which place is reached both 
by the Carolina Central and the Three C's roads, and are situated in a 
region of grandly rolling hills, cut with deep broad vales, and largely 
covered with native forest. The general elevation of the country is 
about 1,000 feet above sea-level, near enough to the mountains to give 
commanding views of the Blue Ridge, the South Mountains, King's, 
Crowder's and other ranges— a country altogether picturesciue and 
beautiful, and blessed with healthful elastic air. The hotel accommo- 
dations are ample and agreeable in all particulars, and the resort to 
these springs is very large. The springs are many and of varied char- 
acter, the waters flowing in large volume. In the midst of its verdant 
hills and shady groves flow waters from a dozen springs, each one con- 



238 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

taining iiiinerHl qualities varying in their combinations and eflfects to 
sucli a degree that for the treatment of certain diseases the White Sul- 
phur is the panace;d; for some others tlie Red Sulphur and Iodine are 
required; for others the Chalybeate is best suited, whilst for others the 
best results are obtained b}' drinking the waters of several alternately. 
The ailments which seem to be mostly under the control of these waters 
are dyspepsia, rheumatism, malarial troubles, insomnia, etc. 

The fallowing is the analysis of two of the springs of marked merit: 

White Sulphur Springs. — One gallon of water contains 4.80 inches sulpliuretted 
hydrogen gas and carbonate acid. 4.50 grains carbonate of lime, 18.70 grains sulphate 
of lime, 4.80 grains muriate of lime, 7.65 grains nuiriate of magnesia. 

Iodine or Red Sulphur Springs. — One gallon of water contains 4.22 cubic inches 
sulphuretted iiydrogen gas and carbonate acid. 3. 12 grains carbonate of lime. 17.42 
grains suljiliate of lime, iodine and magnesia. 

THE SPARKLING CATAWBA SPRINGS 

Are in Catawba County, about eight miles north of Hickory, on the 
Western North Carolina Railroad, and are reached from Hickory by a 
remarkably smooth and level road. The surrounding country is a 
beautiful one, partly wooded, partly in cultivation, and with scenic 
surroundings of great beauty, with the Brushy Mountains in the fore- 
ground on the north, and fine views of the Blue Ridge in the distance. 
The hotel accommodations are very full, and the Springs have main- 
tained good repute for excellence of fare. The waters of the Springs 
embrace blue and white sulphur, and chalybeate, and, from the known 
benefit derived by well-attested cures in their use as an alterative and 
tonic influence over the lymphatic and secretive glands, the}' are unsur- 
passed, and never f;iil to strengthen the gastric juices of the stomach, 
and increase the appetite, assist the digestion and promote the assimi- 
lation of food, thereby imparting tone and health to the person. By 
the use of these mineral waters, diseases of the liver, dvspepsia, vertigo, 
neuralgia, ophthalmia or sore eyes, paralysis, spinal atfections, rheu- 
matism, scrofula, gravel, diabetes, kidney and urinary diseases, are 
greatly relieved. 

CONNELLY SPRINGS, 

Midw^ay between Morganton and Hickory, on the Western North Caro- 
lina Railroad, have become a favorite summer resort, partly owing to 
the curative virtues of the sulphur water and also to the good hotel 
andireadiness of access to the place. The elevation secures pleasant 
summer temperature, and the proximity of the Blue Ridge on the 
north and the South Mountains on the south-west assure the charm of 
fine though somewhat remote mountain scenery. 

BARIUM SPRING, 

In Iredell County, has excited much interest, and will eventually become 
a very popular health resort. This Spring was discovered about 1775. 
It was formerly known as the "Poison Spring," so called under a mis- 



AflXERAL SI'HINOS OF NORTH ("AROMNA. 239 

taken idea of the early settlers, who, because cattle refused to drink the 
water, were led to believe tliat it was injurious. Experience and chem- 
istry, however, have disproved and entirely reversed this supftosition, 
and the water is known now to be a valuable remedv for many dis- 
eases. The analyses of Professors Chandler, Ledoux and Phillips show 
that it contains, in varying proportions, barium, chloride and sulf)hate, 
iron, soda, sulphur, magnesia and phosphoric acid, in such combina- 
tions as to render it a curative and tonic agent, the equal of any min- 
eral water known It has no visible outflow, and the water remains at 
a constant level, never freezes, never stagnates, and it will keep pure 
and retain its cura'ive efficiency indefinitely. These remarkable Springs 
were well known to the Indians, and their waters were so highly esteemed 
by them for their potent curative properties that they made tl]e localii}'- 
a regular rendezvous, as is [)roven by tradition and by numerous evi- 
dences of their ibrmer occupation. The other springs all contain vary- 
ing mineral ingredients, sulphur and iron being the most prominent 
elements in them. 

THE MOORE SPRING, 

In Stokes County, not far from Danbury, remarkable for its control 
over cutaneous affections and impurity of the blood, is worthy of note, 
thougli not a resort, from the unusual presence of many mineral ingre- 
dients, to such extent as to have astonished the State Chemist, who 
makes the following analysis; 

Potassium sulphate, 0.210 grains: sodium chloride. 2 957 grains; sodium sulpliate, 
0.778 grains, sodium pliospliate, 542 grains; calcium carbonate, 61.486 grains: mag- 
nesium carbonate. 1.058 grains; silica, 1.308 grains; volatile and organic matter and 
loss,* 40. 136; total, 108.425. Oxide of iron alumina, trace. 

Greensboro has within its limits valuable mineral springs. 

The Winston Marienbad waters are drawing much intelligent atten- 
tion. The following is a brief extract from a newspaper account of 
them : 

"In the spring discovered by Mr. S. A. Hauser on his place, two and 
a half miles north-west of Winston, our community has gained one of 
the most valuable acquisitions conceiv^ible. According to Dr. Battle's 
analysis, this water contains calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, 
iron oxide, sodium chloride, and potassium sulphate. The water is 
ver}^ similar t) that of Marienbad. the famous Bohemian Spa. The 
Marienbad waters contain calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, 
ferrous carbonate, sodium chloride, lithium carbonate, and trace of 
strontium, manganese, silica, etc. The analogy between the Marienbad 
waters and ours is very close, for, while ours has no lithium, yet it has 
potassium, which is even a better ingredient and possesses all the other 
effective elements of the Marienbad.'' 

THE PIEDMONT SPRINGS, 

In Stokes County, not far from Danbury, have high repute, and, there 
being a large and good hotel on the premises, it is largely resorted to. 

♦Including undetermined matter. 



240 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

It is twelve miles from either the Cape P^ear and Yadkin Valley road 
or the Roanoke and Southern branch of the Norfolk and Western. 

ELLERBEE SPRINGS. 

Among the best locally valued springs in this State is one above 
named, situated about twelve miles north of Rockingham, Richmond 
County, through which passes the Carolina Central Railroad. The 
Springs are in a dry, healthy, sand-hill region. The waters have a 
remarkably abundant fiow% the predominant elements being iron and 
sulphur. No analysis is attainable, but the Springs are worthy of men- 
tion, because in them is found a remedy for that stubborn, distressing 
malady, hay fever. Over that its immediate control seems to be 
supreme, no instance of failure to cure being known, though so far 
patients under that ailment are few. 

Jackson Springs, Mount Vernon Springs and others have fine local 
character, and worthily attract large annual resort; but it is impossible 
to give the characteristics of all in detail. The Lincoln Lithia, at Lin- 
colnton, is among these whose waters are valued abroad and largely 
distributed. 

In the eastern part of the Middle Section of the State are 

THE PANACEA SPRINGS, 

Near Littleton, N. C, on the Raleigh and Gaston branch of the Seaboard 
system, and about seventy miles north of Raleigh. These Springs are 
in a pretty valley among the rolling hills of an unexpected I}'' pic- 
turesque country, its rocks and its thick forests of oak, hickory and 
other fine timber trees giving token of healthy airs and life-giving 
waters. The waters have only become widely known within the past 
few years, but have already acquired fame at home and abroad. The 
claims for efficacy in many maladies are very extensive, but appear to 
be well sustained. For dyspepsia they are said to be very beneficial ; 
also for chronic diarrho?a, scrofula, kidney troubles and other diseases. 
The waters loee none of their virtues by transportation, and arc sold 
by the drug-stores throughout the State. There is a good hotel on the 
premises. 

One of the most remarkable series of springs in the State are known as 

THE SEVEN SPRINGS. 

They are as remarknble for their locality and the nature of their 
surroundings as for their genuine virtues. They are in tlie south-east 
corner of Wayne County, eighteen miles from both Kinston and Golds- 
boro, but mo=!t readily and quickly reached from LaCJrange, on the 
Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, seven miles nortl) of the springs. 
The springs lie almost immediately on the banks of the Neuse River, 
in a region of hil's and bluffs, and amid forests of hard-wood trees, 
giving a very marked up-country feature by their intrusion into the 



r 


1 
4 

1 




I 

! 


IBP" 




FISHERIES. 241 

flat lands and monotonous forest of the low country. The springs, as 
their title implies, are seven in number, all bubbling up in clear, strong 
volume, in close contiguity and enclosed and encased in a spring-house 
of remarkably limited though absolutely convenient dimensions. The 
waters are as different in their qualities as they are in their numbers, 
and prove effective in malarial diseases, indigestion, insomnia, kidney 
troubles, including Bright's disease, weakness and inflammation of the 
eyes, loss of appetite, etc. These springs have been known for many 
years, and have been the resort of the surrounding country, but only 
comparatively recently have they become known to the more distant 
public. A good and capacious hotel now makes it practicable to dis- 
tribute their benefits among a much larger circle of health-seekers. 

There are many other springs of value throughout North Carolina 
than those above named. All of them are now accessible bv railroad. 
Therefore there is no need for a North Carolinian to go abroad to repair 
his injured health, and there is good reason why the invalid of oilier 
States should seek our health-giving waters. 

A spring and re.sort, omitted in its proper place, must not be neglected. 
These are the 

GLEN ALPINE SPRINGS, 

Eleven miles from Morganton, and reached from Glen Alpine station, 
on the Western North Carolina Railroad. They are beautifully situ- 
ated among the South Mountains, a range, if not so lofty, quite as bold 
and picturesque as the Blue Ridge — a delightful resort, with woods, and 
mountains, and valleys, and gorges, and tumbling waterfalls, and a good 
hotel, and what is sought for by the invalid — invaluable mineral springs. 
These are chiefly lithia waters. The following is an analysis of Glen 
Alpine Springs water by H. B. Battle, State Chemist : 

One U. S. gallon contained solids: Potassium sulphate, .212 grains: sodium sulphate, 
.360graius; sodium chloride, .619 grains; calcium carbonate, 2.940 grains; magnesium 
carbonate, .631 grains: silica, .069 grains; oxide of alumina, .742 grains: *oxide of 
iron, .731 grains; volatile and organic matter and loss, 1.779 grains; total, 8.083 grains. 



FISHERIES. 

The fisheries of North Carolina are of vastly more importance than 
is attached to them by the people of the interior, and by those who leg- 
islate for the interests of the whole State, else there would not have 
been that premature extinguishment of that enlightened measure, the 
Fish Commission, which was doing so much to restore to the waters of 
North Carolina, inland as well as exterior, that amazing store of food 
fish which once so bountifully and so gratefully contributed to the table 
supplies of the people from the coast up to the very foot of the moun- 
tains. It was the comment of the early explorers and settlers that the 
waters of the country now forming the State of North Carolina were so 

* Equivalent to carbonate of iron, 1.0.52. 

16 



242 HAND-BOOK OB' NORTH CAROLIXA. 

stocked with fish as to pleasantly solve, without an argument, the ques- 
tioQ of subsistence, and that in the season of migration the rivers were 
so thronged w'ith the crowding swarms struggling for pass-way up to 
their heads as to suffocate each other by their pressure. This is prob- 
ably exuberant exaggeration; but it is certain that at a period even 
now remembered by the living the visitations of the shad in bountiful 
runs was annually awaited along the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the Tar, 
the Roanoke, the Yadkin and the Catawba, up to their very sources; 
shad being taken in large quantities in the Yadkin far above Salisbury, 
in the Catawba above Morganton, in the Neuse above Raleigh, and in 
such abundance as to be sold at prices that now appear to liave been 
absurdly small. The usual results of improvidence, of greediness, of 
needless waste, of selfish obstructions, followed; and, while straggling 
individuals, or even diminished schools, sometimes es-ay the pathway 
of ancestral swarms, the fact remains that the fish resource is on ihe 
coast or in the estuai-ies or mouths of the rivers which once opened to 
to invite to far interior exploration. 

On the coast, however, there yet exists an important industry in the 
fisheries, the most important on the South Atlantic coast. The fish 
with the greatest commercial value are shad, herring, mullet, bluefish, 
menhaden, sturgeon, rock-bass, Spanish mackerel and others of inferior 
importance. 

The following table of statistics, though not of very recent date, will 
give an approximate idea of the importance of the North Carolina 
fisheries. Owing to the very great recent development in the practice 
of sending fresh fish on ice to the Northern cities and through the 
interior of this State, there is unquestionably a large increase, both in 
the quantity and value of fish taken: 

Persons employed 5,274 

Fishing vessels - yo 

Fishing boats 2,714 

capital dependent on the fishery industries $506. .jG 1 

Pounds of sea products taken (including oysters) 11,357,300 

Value of same $280,745 

Pounds of river products taken 30,892,188 

Value of same $546,950 

Total value of products to the fishermen §827,695 

There is a distribution of the business of the fisheries very clearly 
defined b}' localities, and also largely by the character and value of the 
subjects of the catch. These localities will be considered briefly, as 
follows: 

THE CAPE FEAR FISHERIES, 

Which include all from Federal Point at the mouth of the Cape Fear 
River to New River, the proceeds of which nearly all find a market 
in Wilmington. The most important fish, in quantity, is the mullet, 
which is caught, salted and barreled to the amount of from 8,000 to 
10,000 barrels annually. The season for mullets is during the months 
of August, Septei'nber, October and November. The fish are caught 
in seines, at some points, as atZeke's Island, outside the bars; and most 



FISHERIES. 243 

generally, where tlie condition of the sea admits, in the open outside 
waters. 

The season for sluid is in February, March and April. They are 
caught in seines, drifc nets and dip nets. They are largely sent fresh 
on ice to the Northern markets, and are in great demand, both on account 
of intrinsic merit and of their early appearance in the market. 

The sturgeon, of recent years, has become valuable, not for home 
consumption, but to meet a Northern demand whicii is steadily increas- 
ing. They are caught in the Cape Fear River to the amount of about 
100,000 pounds annually, and are at once shipped by rail, on ice. 

In this connection it may be interesting to give the list made by that 
very close observer and early historian of North Carolina, Lawson, who, 
in 1714, tells us what kind of fish frequent our coast?, as follows : 

Whales, several soi-ts; tlirasliers, devilfish, swordfish, crampois, bottle noses, por- 
poises, sharks — two sorts; dogfish, Spanish mackerel, cavallies, bonitos, bluefish, 
drum, red and black; angel-fish, bass or rockfish, sheephead, plaice, flounder, 
soles, mullets, shad, fat backs, guard — white and green; scate or sting-ray, thorn- 
back, conger eels, lamprey eels, sunfish, toadfish, tench, salt-water ti'out, croakers, 
herring, smelts, breams, tailors; and an infinity of fresh-water fish, and also all 
the varieties of shellfish. 

The same fish are still found, and there are very few changes in the 
names. 

BEAUFORT AND MOREHEAD FISHERIES 

Embrace an area of more than eighty miles in length, extending from 
Portsmouth near Ocracoke Inlet on the north-east to Bogue Sound on 
the south-west, embracing the inside waters of the sounds and bays, 
and the outside waters under Cape Lookout. The varieties include 
many of those named in Lawson's enumeration, excluding the shad, 
which seeks the sources of fresh-water rivers. The bluefish, one of the 
most numerous, make their appearance in large schools twice in the 
year. They come in from the sea between the I5th of April and the 1st 
of May and are caught until June. They are then migrating north- 
wardly. They are caught off Lookout through the whole summer. 
They are caught again in the fall, beginning about the 1st of August. 
With them are caught the sea trout, Spanish mackerel, spots, croakers, 
and other migrating fish. This migration beginning early in August, 
continues until about the middle of November. The mullet appears 
in immense schools about the middle of August and runs until about 
the middle of November, during which time they are very fat and in 
good demand. About one-half are shipped fresh on ice, and the other 
half is salted to the extent of from 8,000 to'10,000 barrels annually. In 
Beaufort Harbor and other protected waters they are caught with gill nets; 
outside they are caught with seines. Recently the practice of deep-sea 
fishing has been resorted to with remarkable success, nets being dropped, 
properly weighted, to the depth of eighty to one hundred feet, and 
drawn up filled to bursting with varieties of marketable fish. Among 
the marketable fish caught arc pompano, trout, Spanish mackerel, croak- 
ers, spot^, and others, and all in immense and unfailing quantities. 



244 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

About 1,000 men are here employed, working 400 boats. Eighty boats 
are employed outside the bar, fishing with seines, or with hook and 
line. All the fresh fish are shipped on ice by rail, by way of New- 
bern, from which place they go either by rail to destination, or by 
steamer to Elizabetii City. The shippers prepay annually about 
$15,000 in freight on their fresh fish shipments. 

Beaufort Harbor has for man}' years been the centre of a whale fish- 
ery, the whale seeking the cool arctic current which runs down the coast 
under Lookout as far down as Cape Fear, there finding the food they 
delight in. Once the wliale was so numerous as to invite to this coast 
for their capture the whalers of New England. Now they appear only 
at intervals, some times six or eight during the year, sometimes 
none at all. But preparations for their capture are always in readiness. 
The whalers live along the shore, with their boats, harpoons, bombs 
and lines always in readiness; and as soon as a whale is sighted all 
respond to a general signal and engage in pursuit, and the victim rarely 
escapes. The skeleton now on the floor of the State Geological Muse- 
um at Raleigh, is that of a whale captured off Beaufort about 1876. 
It is 65 feet in length. 

NEWBERN, 

At the head of the broad estuar\' of the Neuse Ri,ver, is rather a fish 
market than a fishing place. It derives, in relation to the fisheries, its 
importance as being the entrepot and point of shipment for the catch of 
the adjacent waters. About two million herrings are caught in the 
waters of the Neuse, which are sought as suitable spawning ground, 
running into, and soon filling up, the smallest streams. The herring 
begins to run about the 1st of March, and the height of the season is 
reached in about a month. About half of the catch is shipped or con- 
sumed fresh, and the rest is salted. Shad appear early in January, 
increase in numbers during February, and are in their greatest plenty 
and perfection about the middle of March. They are caught in seines, 
gill and skim nets. The Newbern shad command a higher price than 
obtained for others, both on account of size and quality. There are 
five principal dealers in Newbern, and their business, in conjunction 
with that of Morehead, exceeds half a million of dollars a year. The 
fresh-water fisheries of Newbern are very important, continued through 
the year. The fish, principally perch, chub and pickerel, are caught in 
the numerous creeks with hooks, dvug and gill nets, and contribute 
largely to the fish supply of the interior. 

AVashington, on the Pamlico River at the head of the estuary which 
receives the waters of Tar River, offers fine inducements to the run of 
both shad and herring, and great quantities of both are caught; 
and with the completion of the branch of the W. & W. road to this 
point, ever}^ facility is offered to the quick transportation to destina- 
tion of fresh fish on ice. 

The whole of the eastern water section is engaged in this industry. 
The demands upon which, which are yearly increasing, seem to have 
been fully met by the successful work of the Fish Commission, and made 



FISPIERIKS. 245 

manifest by the increasing numbers and quality of the cultivated and 
protecteii fi-h, and then bronoht to an untimely end, the act for the 
creation of the Fish C'ommi^•.s!on havinoj been repeah^d prematurely. 
Other States who iido{)ted the system of fish cuUure liave been wiser 
than we. and persevere. It is to be hoped that wislom will return to 
our Leoislature and the act be renewed. 

The most extensive and profitable of the fisheries lie along Albe- 
marle Sound and its tributary waters. 

The following in relation to them, and which gives ample information, 
is quoted from "The Albemarle Section," a pamphlet com{)iled by 
Messrs. F. E. and Frank Vaughan, of Elizabeth City: 

The fisheries of North Carohna are tlie most iini)ortaiit on the South Atlantic coast. 
The shad and herring tislieries are the most extensive and important of any State, and 
the fisheries of the Albemarle section of North Carolina are larger and tlie jti-oducts 
more valuable than those of the balance of the State combined. Especially is this 
true of the seine fisheries. It is estimated that 300,000 yards of seine are operated in 
the Albemarle Sounds. In addition, there are thousands of stake, drift, pound and 
other kinds of nets operated in the great sounds and rivers in this section. The largest 
of the seines are some 2,500 yards in length — about a mile and a half. From end to 
end of the hauling ropes, when the seine is out, the distance is nearly four miles. The 
seines are "shot" — that is, carried out and deposited in the water— by steam flats, and 
steam-power is also used in bringing them to shore with their great loads of fisli. 
Formerly the "shooting" was all done by means of boats manned by from sixteen to- 
twenty-four sturdy oarsmen, but the inventive genius of a citizen of the Albemarle 
section opened the way to better and more rapid methods. To Capt. Peter Warren, 
of Edenton, is due all the credit for that great modern convenience of the large fish- 
eries, known as the steam flat. The varieties of valuable fishes frequenting the waters 
of the Albemarle section in great numbers are numerous. Chief among the commer- 
cial fishes are herring, shad, rock (striped bass), mullet, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, 
chub (black bass), perch, sturgeon, menhaden, trout, spots, hogfish, croakers, and of 
the shellfish, oysters and clams. The crab, so abundant in many places, is the arch 
enemy of the gill-netter, having no respect for either the nets or its finny captives, 
and destroying both with apparently equal relish. Even this I.shmaelite of the waters 
is sought for profit, being |)repared for market at Hampton. Va , and other places on 
the coast The herring, as he is univer.sally called, in reality an ale-wife, is entitled 
to the distinction of king of our commercial fishes— not that liis flavor is so fine as of 
dozens of other varieties, or that he brings even a hundredth part of what other fish 
sometimes bring, but because he never fails to come, be the season good or bad. From 
fifty to a hundred thousand herrings, and often twice that number, are frequently 
taken at a single haul of a large seine in a good season It is reliably stated that as 
many as 400.000 herrings have been saved from a single haul of a seine in Albemarle 
Sound, thousands of fish escaping and being thrown away for want of handling facili- 
ties. Herring are cured in salt and stored in barrels and kegs. Three grades of them 
are prepared for market — cut, roe and gross. They are also cured by smoking, though 
on a much smaller scale. The other most valuable species of food fish taken in the 
Albemarle waters are shad and rock, caught in great numbers in Albemarle Sound 
and its tributary streams, and to a le.ss extent in the Pamlico Sound and its tributaries. 
These fish (and others, as perch, chubs, etc.) are packed in ice and shipped fresh. The 
North Carolina shad command the highest prices, because they begin to "run" first 
and are early on the market. Thus, while the State of Maryland is credited by the 
census with a slightly larger catch of shad, the price realized for tlie North Carolina 
shad is so much greater that the value of the catch is more than double that of the 
Maryland fisherj-, because the shad are marketed before fishing begins there. The 
quantity of shad taken in the waters of this section in a good year is between three 
and four million of pounds. The shad is a much more timid fish than the herring, 
and not so easily entrapped At the head of the Albtnnarle Sound, made fresh by 
the volume of water from the Roanoke, ( Jashie, Chowan and other rivers, is the 
favorite spawning groimds of the shad, and it is in their ]iassage hither that tliey are 
ensnared in the seines and nets all through the sounds and rivers. At Avoca, at the 
head of Albemarle Sound, was a hatchery for shad, furnished with the most approved 



246 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

appliances. It was a State institution, and the work was done, under the auspices of 
the State Board of Agriculture, hy Mr. Stephen G. Worth, Superintendent of Fish and 
Fisheries. Millions of shad-fry had been artificially hatched at this station and turned 
loose in the inland waters of the State. The number placed in the streams tributary 
to the Albemarle Sound from 1877 to 1880 was 10,963,000; in streams tributary to Pam- 
lico Sound, 8.846.000. 

The shellfish of these waters, however, merit some mention. There are extensive 
beds of clams on tlie banks, and they are taken from their beds in the sand in great 
numbers. The demand is largely local, but the volume of export is increasing through 
shipments to New York. The oyster interests of this section bid fair at an early day 
to assume large proportions, by the aid of favorable legislation and by proper culture. 
The Pamlico Sound and its tributaries form a vast natural oyster field, that, with 
improved methods of culture, w-ill supply a large demand. The whole floor of the 
sound, covering hundreds of s(piare miles, can readih' be converted into productive 
oj-ster fields. In many places the natural oyster rock now covers the bottom for miles, 
and oysters can be gathered in quantities at a cost of about twentv' cents and less per 
bushel. Some of these oysters are of superior size and quality. In places where they 
have been artificially planted they compare favorably Mith the best cultivated products 
of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Several highly-prized varieties of turtle and terrapin are to be found in quantities 
in the waters of the Albemarle section. Diamond-))ack terrapins, the most valuable 
of tliem all, abound in places, and are taken and shipi)ed in considerable (juantities. 

The following information was communicaled by Dr. W. R. Cape- 
hart after the preceding matter had been sent to the pres--. As this gen- 
tleman is authority on fish and fisheries, it is just to him and the sub- 
ject to add his information : 

Prior to 1800 gill nets were the only device for catching shad and sturgeon. Soon 
after that date seines were rigged and operated — Mr. Jos. B. and Charles Skimier. Mr. 
CuUen Capehart and Mr. Starke Armistead. being tlie first to embark in the new 
enterprise. Greatsuccess followed, and rapidly seine beaches were cleared all along 
the streams of Albemarle Sound down to Roanoke Island, and were operated until 
the beginning of the war — manual hibor and liorse-jjower being iised. Sir. Cullen 
Capehart in one season realized a profit of $18,000 in sixty days — 160.000 shad, besides 
several barrels of herrings, etc. At that date, 1844. all fish of eacli variety were 
cut, salted and shipped to Bath, Baltimore, Richmond. Philadelphia and New York. In 
1850 Ave commenced packing shad in vessels and shii)ping North. Said vessel being 
laden with ice (ice-grinding machines on deck), and. ilropping anchor in front of one 
of the large fisheries, i)urchased the shad, started the grinder, and soon the vessel 
was laden with shad packed in ground ice, when it woiild set sail for New York. 

As soon as we commenced fishing after the close of the war, a new mode was 
commenced, shad, herring, strii)ed bass and perch were packed in boxes containing 
fifty shad and filled with finely ground ice, and shi])ped by fast freight to Baltimore, 
Philadeli)hia and New York, and this has continued to the present date The catch 
varies very nuich some seasons. I have known one beach to catch 1 60,000 shad in sixty- 
five days, and I have known the same beach to catch only 14,000 to a season. The 
expense was from $8,000 to !f«10,000 per season. Formerl}-, or until 1872. large boats, pro- 
pelled by ten long oars, were used to convej^ the seines. But Capt. Peter 31. Warren 
in 1872 constructed a fiat-bottom steamer. These boats are very seaworthy, going in 
almost any water. He also patented a steam gear for drawing the seines to the shore, 
so that, from that date to the present, the large seines are put out on large steamboats 
and drawn to the shore by steam-engines, an engine-house with steam drums being 
at each extremity of the beach. About this date a new and economical device was 
j)laced in our waters, known as the pound or stationiiry net. and commonly called 
dutch net, because a Pennsylvania Dutchman first put them in Albemarle Sound. 
Now our streams are lined with these netvS. Tliousands of yards, yes hundreds 
of miles, of this netting is found along the streams of Alljemarle Sound and 
(Chowan River. They have proved a very successful mode of catching all varieties of 
fisli coming into our waters A well-rigged sound seine is worth about $5,000. It 
lias ;}.80() yards of netting, depth to suit location fished. It has about 8.000 corks on 
the toj) line: they cost 8 to 10 cents each. We in former years caught sturgeon in 
great numbers, but in the past few years nets by the mile fill Albemarle sound all 
through the summer or spawning season— the object being to capture the female 



(n'STEKS AND THE OYSTER SIRVEY. 247 

sturgeon to take the roe (or egg) from which cavaire is made, and we then ship it to 
Russia and (Germany. This has destrrned tlie niotlier lish until the catch is hardly 
remunerative I have sold hundreds ot sturgeon for $1 eacli, that $\0 worth of cavaire 
could have been made from. Tlie roe had no value at that date. ~~' 

Tlie rope used is from 2^ to 3J inches in circumference and costs about 20 cents per 
pound. Al)out 50 coils 200 yards long being necessary to eijuipsaid seine, and is such 
as that used for whaling purposes by the New England vvlialers for fifty years past — the 
very best Russian hemp being necessary. The catch of shad diminished until indi- 
vidual effort to hatch shad artificially at the headwaters of Albemarle Sound, followed 
by State and then United States work, to a certain extent replenished our exhausted 
waters, and this season our seine caught 77,225 shad. Unfortunately the State aban- 
doned its work and the United States saw fit to transfer its labors to more northern 
waters. 

Albemarle catch of shad, is about 5,000,000 

Herring catch 150,000,000 

Siped bass 50,000 lbs. 

Perch 200.000 

Sturgeon 10,000 fish. 

I send you a card which I co])ied from the sales-book of Messrs Lanphear & HafF, 
Fulton Market, New York, in 1H88, showing how shad are stored, handled, and how 
North Carolina compared with other States all near New York, Florida excepted. 

North Carolina 250.606 

P'lorida 12,772 

Virginia 8,776 

New York. 66,416 

Connecticut 26.472 

Maine 2.588 



OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER SURVEY. 

The abundance in which oysters were found along the Atlantic coast 
of the United States, and their sui)eri r excellence, made them at once, 
upon the settlement of the country along the waters which provided 
them, an article both of subsistence and luxury. With the increase of 
interior population and the provision of quick and ready means of 
transportation, the use of them was enormously enlarged, and the dis- 
tribution of them, in all the forms of use, became co-extensive with 
the American continent, and was not confined to that broad area, for 
Europe, in the diminution of ils own supplies, and also in its recogni- 
tion of the superiority of the American oyster, has been for a number 
of years a large consumer. The consequence is the depletion of many 
grounds once regarded as inexhaustible, the diminution in other waters 
where diminution seemed impo.ssible, followed by the assertion of local 
rights, attempts at the exclusion of invading trespassers, contention, 
bloodshed; finally legislative action and the effort to define rights by 
law, with power to assert and secure them by force; and all this made 
necessary because human nature knows no moderation in the use of the 
abundant free gifts of Providence, or in the attainment of that which 
leads to competency or wealth. 

The attempt to retrace the steps of past waste and neglect is what 
invariably follows in locking the stable door after the horse has gone — 
vain regrets and fruitless self-reproach. All the deep research of science, 



248 HAXD-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

all the costly experiments of artificial breeding, all the labor of plant- 
ing new territory of waters, will not br ng back to Connecticut, New 
York, Maryland and Virginia the store they wasted and the abundance 
they so universally squandered. 

It happens that there remains one treasure-house not 3'et plundered, 
one great water granary who.se doors are not yet thrown wide open. 
North Carolina, overlooked and desi>ised in the Eldorado of the Chesa- 
peake, now, when the glories of the latter are fading, is found to possess 
what, with prudence, patience, legislative wisdom and local self-control, 
may be converted into a field quite as prolific as the once teeming oy.ster 
waters of Maryland and Virginia. Its sounds, its bays and its creeks, 
extending along the coast for a hundred and eighty miles, give promise 
of natural conditions that will assure in time as large a product as ever 
existed in other waters. Some of these North Carolina waters are too 
much freshened by the influx of fresh-water rivers to have been the 
habitat of the native oyster, or to be made available as beds for artificial 
culture; but in all the other waters, which exist in the largest propor- 
tion, to which the salt waters of the ocean have ready access, the native 
oyster has always been found, and of great excellence. In the dei)letion 
of the oyster grounds of ttie Chesapeake and other waters, the enter- 
prise of ihe oystermen of those localities was on the alert to save their 
industries from ruin, and the invasion of the North Carolina w^aters 
was rewarded with the discovery of a large relatively untried area. To 
check what threatened to effect here what had been done elsewhere, and 
to secure the people of North Carolina in the possession of their rights, 
the aid of legislation was earnestly invoked. 

One of the first decisive steps taken was the enactment of a law, rati- 
fied March 11, 1885, directing the State Board of Agriculture to cause 
a survey to be made, both of natural oyster-beds and private oyster 
gardens, with reference to the culture of shellfish. Under the act the 
Governor was requested to ask the Federal Government to detail .some 
person in the public service, expert in such matters, to make the neces- 
sary surveys. In compliance w4th the request, Lieut. Francis Winslovv, 
U. S. N., was detailed. lie has made two reports, extracts from which 
are here made. 

In his first report he says the waters subject to the jurisdiction of 
North Carolina consist mainly of twelve sounds, extending along the 
coast and connected with each other from the Virginia line in Lai. 30° 
33' W. to the Cape Fear Hiver in Lat. 34° 53' W. These sounds are 
Currituck, Albemarle, Roanoke, Croatan, Pamlico, Core, Bogue, Stump, 
Topsail, Middle, Masonboro and Myrtle, and four e-tuaries known as 
Bogue, Bear, Brown and New Inlets. The harbor of Beaufort and the 
mouth of tlie Cape Fear River form other inlets. Some of these sounds, 
such as Albemarle and Currituck, being principallv fresh water, are 
excluded from the consideration of oyster culture. Albemarle Sound 
receives the waters of several large rivers, and contains within its own 
limits 5,()3 1,400,000 tons of fresh water. The other waters are all suit- 
able to the grow'h of the oyster in its native beds, or for its propagation 
by planting. Lieutenant Winslow .says: 



OYSTERS AND THE OYSTER SURVEY. 249 

Oysters will and do live on bottoms of almost directly oj)posit*' character. They are 
found on sand-shoals and in soft mud, on rocks, stumjjs and trees, and in clay and 
along the borders of marshes. In the saine way they exist in water that is almost 
fresh, and in other cases where it is almost salt Tlie stntly of other localities has 
given, liovvever. a standard for com|)arison, and it may be accejited that the bottom 
should be as nearly as ])ossil)le of sand or other substance sufiiciently hard to supjjort 
the oyster, covered by a iiglit layer of sticky nuid. The principal necessity is tiiat 
the oyster should not be smothered either by sinking into tlie bottom or by the shift- 
ing of the sand or other su))erticial stratum. In addition to tlu; character of tiie bot- 
tom itself, it must be ascertained wliether there is on it too great an amount of anijnal 
and vegetable life to permit the introduction of new forms. In other words, some 
.study of the fauna and flora of the bottom must be made. Generally speaking, antago- 
nistic forms of life can be eradicated, just as weeds, worms or bugs can be removed 
from a tract of upland, but in some cases the practical difficulty of doing so is so gn^at 
as to render the locality unsuitable for experiment. The scrutin}'^ of tlie bottom had, 
therefore, the ascertainment of tlie foregoing particulars as an end. To acconi|)hsh 
it the ground has been felt over with a pole. 

Ill another report r.ieutenaiit Winslow gives the f.illowing informa- 
tion: 

Prior to 1886 the oyster business of the State was in an absolutely insignificant con- 
dition. With an area suitable for oyster cultivation exceeding that of tiny State in 
the Union except Virginia and Maryland, North Carolina received less than one-half 
per cent, of the aggregate profits of the great oyster industry of the country, and 
contribvited less than one per cent, to its capital While the industry in every other 
oj^ster-growing State emploj'ed thousands of jjeople, and in Maryland and A^irginia 
tens of thousands, this State, by a very libei'al estimate, gave occupation but to one 
thousand persons The positions and areas of the natural beds were unknown to a 
considerable extent. Equal if not greater ignorance as to the possibilities of cultiva- 
tion was even more prevalent. A few persons had attempted to increase the supply 
under the provisions of The Code, but the law was of such a character as to encourage 
the destruction of the natural beds through their direct approjjriation or through dep- 
redations upon them Complaint was general, both from those who worked the gen- 
eral public and common property and from those who were endeavoring to cultivate 
private grounds. The oysters of the State were unknown, except locally, and finally 
the business paid little to the owners and nothing to the State. 

Since the survey has lieen in progress, knowledge of the possibilities of the locality 
and of the business has become diffused among tlie citizens, not onl}^ of North Caro- 
lina, but of other States, and the effect has been to induce a large number of jjeople 
to enter grounds. In Dare County forty-three entries have been made, comprising 
at least twenty-six thousand acres. In Hyde County three hundred and thirty-nine 
entries have been made, comprising fully twenty-six thousand acres; and in Carteret 
County, ninety entries, comprising nine hundred acres. Of these entries sixty-eight 
are by residents of other States, and four hundred and four by residents of North 
Carolina. Entries are still being made and warrants for surveys are still coming in, 
and in the course of another year it is quite possible that the territory may lie doubled. 
But, as it is, an aggregate of fifty-three thousand acres entered is a sufficiently grati- 
fying indic;ation of the value of the survey and of tlie legislation it brought about. 

The cultivation of this immense tract will require a great deal of time, money, 
and labor. Thousands of people must l>e employed and hundreds of thousands of 
dollars spent. But every dollar so expended goes to increase the material wealth of 
the State, and the employment of every man insures additional comforts and conve- 
niencies to the families of the citizens of the seaboard counties. It is with ])leasure that 
I have noted that on(^ of the first, if not the first, to venture in this new field, is a 
citizen of Hj'de County, who is reported to have abandoned a ])rofitabIe luml)er busi- 
ness for the purpose of engaging in oyster growing, and who has, I understand, the 
intention of making as his original outlay a sum about equal to the total value, prior 
to 188(5. of the whole oyster industry of the State. 

The natural beds have not only been defined and located, but under the recent law 
much additional area adjacent to them has been set a])art and excepted from entry. 
These areas are the jiublic grounds, and by law they include the natural beds and suf- 
ficient area adjacent and surrounding them, to jirovide for their natural expansion. 
The provision for allowance for natural expansion has been liberallj^ construed, as 
will be seen by the following summary of the areas of the natural beds and public 
grounds: 



250 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

A reu A ren 

Chnnty. Public Groundx. yattirul Beds. 

Darf - - -- 4.604.16 2,118.!>5 

Hvde 6.891.94 1.642.90 

Pamlico - - 4.495.61 437 00 

Carteret - 4,561.40 1.012.50 

Total 20.553.11 5,210.65 

Or the area of the public grounds exceeds that of the natural beds by 15.343 acres 
The natural betls of that jjortion of the State not under the operation of tlie new law 
comprise 3,381 acres : or the total acreage of natural beds is 8.591. 

The area reser\-ed from the common fishery is thus ample for all time to come, and 
as these areas are excepted from entry, and as they include the natural beds, not only 
is an entrj' or ajjpropriation of a natural bed prevented, but no person can, prac- 
tically, enter near a natural bed. At the same time, as the grounds open to the gen- 
eral fishery are defined and known, the i^rivate cultivator is free from depredation 
under guise of the exercise of the common righ of fishery. Thus the source of com- 
plaint of all classes interested is removed. 

The area entered will bring into the State Treasury over $12,000. a net gain over 
the entire expenses of over i?, 000, and the taxes that will eventually accrue to the 
counties and State may amount in the course of a comparatively few years to fully 
i|10,000 per aiuuim. 

Legislation is now ample, if enforced, to protect and promote the 
oyster interests of the State. It is unlawful to use any in.strument but 
hand-tongs to take oysters from State grounds, violation of which is 
indictable as a misdemeanor. Only residents of the State are permitted 
to use instruments or boats upon State grounds; and non-residents, 
upon conviction of violation of tliis provision, are to be fined not less 
than S500, or be confined in the county jail, to be hired out by the 
Commissioners of the county for a term not less than one year. Resi- 
dents must obtain a license for the use of boats, and individuals desir- 
ing to catch oysters, whether on their own account or that of employer?, 
must take out from the Clerk of the Court an annual license, paying 
for the same $2.50 and a Clerk's fee of twenty-five cents, and must make 
oath that he has been a bona fide resident of the State for twelve months 
next preceding the application for license. Oysters are to be culled on 
the public grounds when taken, and oysters of a specified size are to be 
returned to the waters on the public grounds. Oysters mu.st not be 
taken from the public grounds between the first day of jNIay and the 
first day of October. The control of the oyster interest is placed under 
charge of one Chief Commissioner, to be appointed by the Governor, 
and to hold office; and, to enable the Commissioner to discharge his 
duties of visiting the grounds and repelling or capturing interlopers, a 
patrol boat is provided, with authority to use arms when necessary. 

The oy.'^ters taken at the difierent points in the sounds and estuaries 
vary much in size, shape and flavor. The New River oysters are much 
prized for size and flavor, and probably are the best known abroad. 
I5ut the markets of Wilmington, Newbern, Washington and other points 
are supplied from their various oyster grounds with shellfish of a quality 
not inferior to those taken at New River. With the care in cultivation, 
and the protection given by law, it is only a question of time when the 
waters of North Carolina will yield as abundantly as the waters of the 
Chesapeake have done, and, in (juality of the oystt-r, with no inferiority. 



NURSERIES, ETC. 251 

The diamond-back terrapin is found in all ihe coast country, a deli- 
cacy in such demand and of such value as to have become the subject 
of legislative protection and of artificial cultivation. 

Clams abound, and are now recognized as valuable members of the 
family of shellfish. They are now shipped in large quantities from 
Newbern and Morehead City. 



NURSERIES, Etc. 

The happy intermediate position of North Carolina, between the 
extremes of semi-arctic and semi-tropical temperature, the needed 
degree of cold to check continuous exuberance of growth, but the 
absence of that degree of cold fatal to arrested and dormant vitality — 
on the other hand, early awakening to the vivifying influences of spring 
and subsequent continuous but not excessive heats — early suggested it 
as possessing the proper medium of climate for the propagation of the 
fruits of the temperate zone, and also the locality from which they 
might be disseminated over a wide area, not only in this but in adjoin- 
ing States. Therefore it was that a long time ago the Lindleys of Chat- 
ham County, the Westbrooks of Guilford, and other initiative pomolo- 
gists, began the cultivation of nursery fruit trees and the business of 
distributing tliem through the country, delivering them most frequently 
from their own wagons in the court-house towns during court weeks. 
The excellence of the fruits obtained in this way was so decided as to 
induce the entry into the business of others in other parts of the State, 
and also the distribution of nursery trees throughout other States. As 
the facilities for transportation by railroad were given, so was the 
business enlarged; so that now the young trees from North Carolina 
nurseries find favor everywhere in the South and West, and to some 
extent in the North. The largest of these now is unquestionably the 

POMONA HILL NURSERY, 

Two miles west of Greensboro, on the railroad at the point where the 
Salem branch leaves the North Carolina division of the Richmond and 
Danville system, and its broad acres of young plants or of bearing 
orchards are plainly seen from the trains as they pass through them. 
Mr. J. Van Lindley is the proprietor. It is a business of such magni- 
tude as to exact the best business skill and capacity in its management, 
in culture, in sagacious selection of sorts, in packing, in shipping, in 
correspondence, in keeping of accounts — in other words, in efficient 
office work, and this is largely entrusted to Mr. W. C. Boren and liis 
brother, Mr. G. S. Boren. 

The Pomona Hill Nurseries originated in 1874, Mr. Van Lindley 
becoming the successor of Mr. Josliua Lindley, who might claim to be 
the pioneer in the nursery business in the State, though contiguous to 
the Lindley nurseries were the large and once successful nurseries of 



252 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Weslbrook & Mendenhall. There are nine hundred acres in the tract, 
of which tifiy are iti bearing orchards, giving practical illustration of 
the character of the varieties of fruits originating and propagated here. 
There are two hundred and fifty acres in young trees, waiting their 
turn for shipment — one or two yt-ars old, as may be desired ; and many 
acres are sown in fruit seed to lurnish stocks for budding and grafiing. 
There are annually sown in drills eighty bushels of peach stones, 
dropped as soon as possible after the us« of the fruit; and from four to 
five bushels of apple seed, which are all imported from France. The 
cultivation is conducted with the utmost care and with scientific skill; 
it need not be added, with perfect fidelity. Thus, tlie business has 
grown to the extent of creating a demand in all the Southern States, 
from Delaware south, and west as far as Arkansns. The sales last year 
(1891) amounted to $75,000. The list of nursery trees and plants 
inc ude the best variety of apples (winter and summer), peaches (from 
the earliest to the latest), pears, plums, cherries, apricots, nectarines, 
grapes; small fruits — strawberi'ies, raspberries, blackberries, currants, 
gooseberries and others. Much attention is paid also to testing the 
value of new foreign varieties of fruits, berries and nuts, ornamental 
trees, shrubbery and plants. 

There are other nurseries in the State, but none so large; and, in the 
absence of precise information, the Pomona Hill Nurseries may be 
cited as an illustration of what may be done with skill and energy. 

BULBS AND FLOWERS. 

These succeed so well that there is not a large town in the State which 
has not its nursery and green-house for the supply not only of its locality, 
but remote points. Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Gre?nsboro, Ral- 
eigh, Wilmington, Wilson and other places have profited by the skill 
ot their florists. Of bulbs, climate and soil appear to offer special favor. 
At Magnolia, on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, the tuberose 
is planted to the extent of many acres, and with the result that annually 
many hundred barrels of tubers are shipped to sup))ly Northern and 
European demand. The value of this industry to this State is so great, 
and the adaptability of our soil and climate to its perfection so marked 
and peculiar, that the following, from the American Agricidiv.rist, is 
quoted for the encouragement of tho-:e who might wish to embark in 
the culture of the tuberose: 

"The late John Henderson, of Flushing, L. I., was the first to engage 
in the cultivation of tuberoses for commercial purposes. Previous to 
1856 all the tuberose bulbs were grown in Italy * * * At first his 
largest output would not exceed an acre, and for several years the bulbs 
sold at from six to eight dollars per hundreH. His success tempted 
others on Long Island into the business, and all made such reputation 
that the imporis of Italian bulbs fell off. * =^ * At the cl"se of the 
war some of the dealers saw in North Carolina a congenial home for 
the tuberose, and comrapuced its growth. There the seasons are suf- 
ficiently long for the bulbs to perfect their growth in one year from the 



THE ORAPK IN NORTH CAROLINA. 253 

sets, which they will not do at the North in less than two. The climate 
on the coast is most favorable to the development of the bulb, and the 
soil in all respects well adapted to its perfection. This enterprise has 
completely revolutionized the tuberose industry. The iSouth, able to 
produce as good or better bulbs in one year than the North can in two, 
has it all her own w\ay. Southern growers are able to sell tuberose 
bulbs at the same price per thousand as the growers at the North must 
have per hundred, the difference being caused by the expense of pro- 
tection and loss by waste in carrying tlie bulbs through the winter." 

HERBS. 

To North Carolina belongs the peculiar honor of providing the largest 
supplies and the greatest variety of herbs in use for botanic medicines 
gathered in the United States. In this State the business of gathering 
them is in the hands of one firm — the Messrs. Wallace, of Statesville. 
The members of the firm are specially trained for the business, having 
received a thorough botanical education. The}^ employ three hundred 
agents in contracting for supplies of herbs, barks, etc., and the number 
of collectors, most of them living among the mountains, is innumer- 
able; and the capital invested amounts to several hundred thousand 
dollars. The collections, as ihey come in, are stored in a series of large 
warehouses, and sorted and prepared for shipment to all parts of the 
civilized world. On the Atlantic slope of the Blue Ridge there are 
said to grow no less than 2,500 varieties of plants used in the Materia 
Medl.ca. A large number of these come into the hands of the Messrs. 
Wallace. The j^earl}^ business of their house nearly reaches two mil- 
lion pounds in leaves, barks and roots. Some of the collections include 
many of the most familiar weeds and the bark and roots of the most 
common trees and shrubs. This will be illustrated by the following 
extract from the order-book of the firm, covering one month's business: 

"Fifty thousand pounds of mandrake, 5,000 pounds black cohosh 
root, 12,000 pounds of wild-cherry bark, 24,000 of sassafras bark, 6,000 
of birch bark, 8,000 of red clover blossoms, 12,000 of pennyroyal leaves, 
9,000 of catnip leaves, 8,000 of stramonium leaves, 8,000 of witch-hazel 
leaves, 8,000 of yellow dock, 6,500 of 'queen's delight' root, 8,000 of 
unicorn root," etc. 

Ginseng, snake-root, lobelia, blood-root, mandrake and many others 
find a ready market with the Wallaces. The f>inseng is the rarest, the 
most valuable and practically the most useles.«, and finding sale only 
to the Chinese, who set upon it a fabulous value. The collectors are 
paid from S2 to $3 a pound, and in China it is worth its weight in silver. 



THE GRAPE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The glowing accounts given by the adventurers who first landed upon 
the North Carolina coast, and the subsequent confirmation of these 
reports by the settlers, extending in the course of time their observa- 



254 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tions from the sea-coast to the mountains, might have suggested that 
the whole territory would eventually become the land of the vine and 
the fruitful source of wines that would equal in abundance and excel- 
lence the mighty flow of the European vmeyards. Such was not the 
reality, and it is only in recent years that grape-culture and wine- 
making have been thought worthy of attention. The inhabitants 
seemed to have relied upon the spontaneous bounty of nature for their 
store of grapes, and, in the processes of wine-making, adopted the rude 
simplicity applicable to the making of cider. The outcome was not 
wii)e, but grape-juice developed info a coarse, strong or sweet beverage, 
without delicacy, without aroma, and repugnant to refined tastes and 
cultivated palates. Failure to produce good wine was attributed to the 
native grapes, not to the methods of manufacture; and vignerons, who 
were not a few, and connoisseurs, of whom there were many, pronounced 
unanimously and emphatically against the American grape. The adapt- 
ability, both of soil and climate, to grape-growing and wine-making, 
was so apparent that persistent efforts were made through many years 
to achieve success in both. Adlum in Washington City, Herbemont 
in Columbia, S. C, Longworth in Cincinnati, were among the most 
determined pioneers in individual efforts to solve the problem. Nor 
were united efforts on a large scale wanting; for, after the downfall of 
Napoleon, a colony of his associated GTcnerals, and also of his soldiers, 
feeling themselves no longer safe in France, emigrated to America, and 
by them a large colony was planted in Alabama, between the Alabama 
and the Tombigbee Rivers, with purpose to renew the habits and refine- 
ments of La Belle France in the depths of the American wilderness. 
The name of their town, Marengo, is the only suggestion remaining of 
a scheme which met with ignominious failure; for they, like all others 
who attempted the cultivation of the grape, despised the native and 
depended upon the foreign grape. 

Perhaps to Longworth is due the recognition of the value of at least 
one American grape — the Catawba; and his success with that induced 
investigation into the character of other grapes, stimulated by the dis-^ 
astrous failures in the attempted general diffusion and use of the Euro- 
pean grapes, and in late years made imperative by the universal disas- 
ters to the European vineyards — the natural consequences of disease 
and infirmities of centuries of artificial training and habits. The 
European grape is now discarded as a vineN^ard grape, except in the 
dry climates of New Mexico and California, and the promise is now 
good that the Atlantic slope of the United States will become the great 
grape-growing and wine-making section of the world, in which the 
stock is new, tlie plants healthy and vigorous, and the product satisfac- 
tory, if dependence upon foreign standards of tas'e is cast off; for it 
should not be forgotten that the American grape, however improved 
and refined, has a character and flavor of ils own, and the attempt to 
imitate the ICuropean wines in full perfection only rerults, like all 
imitat'ons, in failure or imperfection. 

The leading native varieties fr.»m which the numerous sub-varieties 
have been produced are the common summer grape {Vitis jEsfivalis), 



THE GKAPE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 255 

from which come the Warren, Herbemont, Lenoir, tlie Lincohi and 
others — perhaps, also, the Delaware, but this is not well identified. The 
Lincoln is a distinctively North Carolina grape, originating-, it is 
believed, on the South Fork of the Catawba River, in Lincoln County. 

The fox grape ( C Lalyrasca) is found in the Middle and Western 
Sections of ihe State. From this many valuable cultivated varieties 
have been produced. The earliest of these is perhaps the Isabella 
grape, first cultivated near Wilmington as far back as lb05. But the 
origin of this grape as an American grape has never been accurately 
determined, and as it is not now in favor, controversy about it is lan- 
guid. There is no dis[)ute about the Catawba grape originating on 
Cane Creek, in Buncombe County, and brought into notice about ISOl 
by Captain Clayton, and attracting Longworth's attention in 1820. As 
a table and wine grape, it is now so universally known as to need no 
farther reference, except to the fact that it is clearly of North Carolina 
origin. From this grape come numberless cultivated varieties, among 
which are the Concord, Hartford Prolific, Niagara, Martha; and the 
number of new forms increases with each year. From this family 
come the choicest American table and wine grapes. 

The muscadine (F. Vulpina) is of extensive diffusion, from Maryland 
and Kentucky as far south as the Gulf and Texas, and known by 
various names, such as muscadine, bullace, fox grape, mustang, etc. 
In North Carolina it appears on the coast to the very edge of the surf, 
and up among the val.eys of the mountains. In this State alone have 
any varieties originated that commend them to introduction into the 
vineyard, and these varieties are the sports of nature, not the outcome 
of art; for no grape is so intractable and impatient of artificial treat- 
ment as the muscadine. It must ramble and clamber at will, and it 
submits to no trimming and pruning. A vineyard of this grape is 
therefore unlike any other — the vines trained on broad fiat scaffolds, 
enlarged to accommodate each season s growth until the}' spread over 
an area of from a quarter to half an acre. Indulged in its freedom, it 
amply rewards the care given to it. It is never sick, it never fails in 
its crop, and it is most profuse in its yield, the product of a single vine 
in wine being often fiom one to five barrels. 

It is remarkable that the valuable varieties of the V. Vulpina have, 
so far, originated only in North Carolina, and a still more remarkable 
fact that these sports are of comparative recent discovery. The best 
known and the most widely diffused of them — the Scuppernong — does 
not appear to have been known anterior to 1774, when the Rev. Charles 
Pettegrew discovered it in the lowgrounds of the Scuppernong River, 
iu Tyrrell County, and transplanted several of the wild vines, and from 
these the present abundant vineyards have originated. Another account 
assigns the discovery to two brothers named Alexander, of the same 
county, at about the same period. Within the past half-century other 
varieties have been discovered growing wild, among which are the 
Meish, the Flowers, and later still, the James. The Scuppernong is an 
amber-colored berry, growing in loose clusters of from six to ten. The 
other varieties have the same habit, but ar-e dai'k -skinned. None of 



256 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

these grapes flourish north of this State, nor will they thrive much far- 
ther west than Haw River, in Alamance County, though single vines 
are sometimes cultivated beyond that point. 

VINEYARDS. 

AVitliin the past twenty-five years attention has been given to the 
creation of vineyards for the manufacture of wine, and also, to greater 
extent, to the supply of the Northern city markets with the freshly- 
gathered grape. This last purpose has been greatly stimulated by the 
rapid enlargement of railroad facilities, which enable growers to place 
their fruit on the market quickly and in good order, and the ability 
also to anticipate by a fortnight or more the growers north of them, and 
to succeed in regular sequence the growers in the States south of them. 

It is not proposed to give a detailed account of all the vineyards in 
the State, because of the impracticability of giving information without 
a special effort, at the expense of much time and considerable cost to 
obtain it. It must suffice to give some examples of what is being done, 
and tliese must serve as illustrations. Some of the oldest and most noted 
vine3'ards in North Carolina are worthy of note. Among these is the 

MEDOC VINEYARD, 

In Halifax County, long ago known as the Brinkleyville Vineyards, 
owned by the venerable Sidney Weller, a respected Methodist preacher. 
Originally these vineyards were planted with the Scuppernong vine 
only, and the place was a favorite resort for the whole country for many 
miles around. Much Scuppernong wine was made here, and it was 
said that from one vine alone five barrels of wine were annually made. 
The vineyard became the property of the Messrs. Garrett, was much 
enlarged, and additions made to the variety of grapes. The acreage 

of the vineyard is about acres, and the product is almost exclu- 

sivel,y applied to the manufacture of wine. In favorable seasons about 
175,000 gallons are made, the product being both still and sparkling 
wines. A good brandy is also made. The equipment for wine-making 
is full and of the most perfect character, and the wine is in high repute 
and finds ready sale throughout the United States. 

THE TOKAY VINEYARD 

Is situated about three and a half miles north of Fayetteville, and is 
the property of Col. Wharton J. Green, and is said to be the largest 
vineyard east of the Rocky Mountains, containing about one hundred 
acres in vines. These vines embrace all the cultivated varieties of the 
V. Vtdplna family, and some of the V. Labrusca — of the first, the Scup- 
pernong, Meish, and Flowers; of the second, the Norton, Cynthia, Her- 
man, ^Iartha, Champion, and Concord; the vineyard also containing 
Ives, Delaware, Cottage and otherrj. Wine-making is the leading object 
in the work of the vineyard, though there are large shipments of fruit. 
The equipment for making, storing, bottling and shipment of the wine 
is complete. The character of the wine is well established. A recent 




VICTORIA REGIA, GROWN IN OPEN AIR AT WINSTON. 



THK (JKAl'K IN NORTH CAROLINA. 257 

order for 25,000 gallons was made by a Memphis ( renn ) merchant for 
twenty-three cents a gallon more than was paid for a corresponding 
California wine. The annual product is from 75,000 to 100,000 git Huns. 
A writer in a Northern journal of inHuence sjieaks of the wines of the 
Tokay Vineyard as follows: 

"In general characteristics they resemble the Spanish and Madeira 
wines, and the Sweet White is not unlike the California Mission, though 
much more delicate in bouquet, and, when given pioper age, api)roaches 
the closest to a fine old Madeira of any wine yet produced in tl)is country. 
This wine will constitute a good basis for a sherry wine when made with 
that view, and we have seen some samples of such from these vineyards 
which strongly resemble Old Brown Sherry, and would do credit to any 
gentleman's sideboard and private cellar. Other samples, again, made 
Irom the Flowers, a black Scuppernong seedling — a dry wine — resemble 
certain red wines of Hungary already highly esteemed in this country, 
and, as a sweet wine, bears a close relation in character to Spanish Ked." 

The Bordeaux Vineyard, three or four miles west of Fayetteville, 
the property of Mr. James M. Pearce, is planted largely with the Scuj)- 
pernong, of which there are 500 vines in bearing — a very large num- 
ber, when the space occupied by each vine is considered. The grapes, 
in their season, are shipped largely, principally to western puints in 
this State. The vineyard also contains other gra|)es. 

Large and valuable vineyards flourish near Wilmington, the most 
important of which is that of Captain Nobles. 

Southern Pines, in the south-west corner of Moore C >unty, is the 
location of many hundred acres of vineyards, destined in time to be 
probably the most extensive in the State. The vines now coming into 
bearing are all of the choicest American grapes, and are cultivated 
with care and skill. These, together with the extensive orchards of 
peach trees and the large plantings of small fruits, are destined to give 
great prominence to a section only recently valued for its pines and 
their products. 

West of the Blue Ridge there is as yet no large culture of vineyard.s. 
Capt. J. K. Ho}t, at Engadine, fifteen miles west of Asheviile, has a 
vineyard of several acres, from which he makes a wine of very high 
repute. At the foot of the Blue Ridge, at Old Fort, Mr. Golay, a Swiss 
gentleman, has a large and productive vineyard, noticeable from the 
circumstance that, with European contempt of American grapes, he 
stocked his vineyard, at great cost, with European grapes, and lost^ them 
all, as they brought with them the seeds of European disease. Jle has 
replaced them with the native grape. 

Through many other counties in the State — Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, 
Alamance, Warren, Vance, and in nearly all the eastern counties, where 
the Scuppernong family best thrives — the interest in viticulture is 
annually increasing and the industry is becoming a very general one. 

Wake County is much interested in the subject, and, as it is the only 
one that has a grape-growers' association, it is the only one from which 
approximately full returns are obtainable. The following information 
has been furnished : 
17 



258 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

B. F. Williamson has ten acres in vineyard. His vines are chiefly 
Concord and Ives. The grapes are shipped to Northern markets to the 
extent of 2,000 baskets daring the season. The season begins about the 
15th of July, and continues until the middle of August; beginning when 
the Florida season ends, and a fortnight before that of Virginia begins. 

J. M. Heck has thirty-five acres in Ives, Concord and Cuampion, the 
latter not very successful. He ships about 8,000 baskets of ten pounds 
each annually. His vineyard, as well as most of the Wake County 
vineyards, is in the vicinity of Haleigh. He has also a vineyard of 
twenty acres near Ridgeway, in Warren County, from which he ships 
about 5,000 baskets. About '250 baskets to the acre is apj)arently the 
average yield, and the net sales amount to from ^50 to $100 per acre, 
according to season and condition of market. This explanation will 
appl}'^ to the vine3'ards hereafier mentioned. 

H. Mahler has about twenty acres, the product of which is largely 
converted iuto wine. George Shellem, twenty acres; wine and ship- 
ping. Batchelor & Womble, twelve acres; shipping. H. Bilyeu, fifteen 
acres of Ives, Concord and Delaware; shipping. C. B. Edwards, twenty 
acres, Moore's Early, Delaware, Niagara, Ives and Concord; shipping. 
V. Roys!er, fifteen acres, Ives and Concord; shipping. B. G. Cuwper, 
twenty-five acres, Ives and Concord ; ship[)ing. M. A. Parker, Ives and 
Concord; shipping. J. B. Burwell, Ives and Concord; shipping. Dr. 
Lewis, Ives and Concord; shipping. Davis & Bradshaw, Phil. 11. 
Andrews, Dr. Fuller, Ives and Concord; shipping. C. D. U|ichurch, 
ten acres, Ives. George Cole, ten acres, Ives and Concord; shipj)ing. 
S. Otho Wilson, twenty acres, Ives and Concord ; shipping. Fred. Wat- 
son, twelve acres, Ives, Concord and Delaware. Robert Strong, ten acres, 
Ives, Concord, Delaware and Moore's E:irly. Whiting Brothers, twenty- 
-five acres, Ives, Concord, Delaware and Niagara. W. II. Pace, eight 
acres, Ives and Concord. Ferguson, fifteen acres, Ives, Concord and 
Martha. Je.-se .Jones, five acres, Concord. In the vicinity of Wake 
Forest, B. F. Montague has ten acres, Ives and Concord ; James Moore, 
twelve acres, Ives and Concord. 

Mr. John Robin.son, Commissioner of Agriculture, has ten acres in 
the vicinity of Raleigh, and Judge Walter Clark, ten acres in Halifax 
County, planted with Ives. 

The favorite grapes are Ives and Concord; other varieties, though 
cultivated to some extent, are mostly neglected. Most of the vincyard- 
ists ship their crops, as soon as matured, to the Northern markets. 
Only a few convert them into wine, exce[)t when the m-.irket is over- 
stocked 

In all, there appears to be 350 acres in cultivation in the vicinity of 
Raleigh, with an annual croj) of 80,750 baskets. 



RESORTS — IIOTEr.S. 259 



RESORTS-HOTELS. 

Since the facilities of travel have been multiplied throughout North 
Carolina, making the sea-side, the middle section and the mountains 
equally accessible, with quickness and comfort to all its people, there 
has been remarkable and rapid development throughout the State of 
such places as assure recreation, rest and health to all visitors, and to 
such degree of excellence as not only to attract our own people, but to 
influence the choice of visitors from all parts of the Union. Nor is 
alleviation from the heat of summer the only motive that governs the 
tide of travel or the search after health. The winter airs are relatively 
so balmy as to woo the Northern invalid to inhale them, and in the 
mountain section, somewhat colder, so dry and invigorating as to com- 
mend themselves to the scientific judgment of the most intelligent 
Northern physi.'ians as the surest hope of the sufferer from pulmonary 
or debilitating complaints Therefore, in winter and in summer, the 
whole State is becoming the health resort for those beyond its lines, and 
for those within, a pleasant and economical substitute for those costly 
summer jaunts which fashion or necessity once compelled to Saratoga, 
Cape May or the Virginia Springs. 

THE SEA-SIDE RESORTS 

Are of comparatively recent prominence, because, until within a few 
years, they have been practically more remote than those of distant 
States. Now they are accessible quicklv and conveniently, by either 
steamboat or railroad, and are all made so attractive by the comforts, 
the elegances and the amusements provided by hotels of the first class 
as to attract to them continuous throngs of satisfied summer visitors. 

NAG'S HEAD, 

At the head of Roanoke Sound, and at the eastern end of Albemarle 
Sound, is on the strip of banks which interpose between those inland 
waters and the rage of the outside ocean. It occupies the site of the 
inlet which once lay open to navigation, and through which the first 
discoverers and attempted colonists sought the North Carolina shores. 
This inlet has long since been closed by the resistless forces of con- 
tinuous storms; and where the waters once flowed, a sandy strip, inter- 
spersed with high billowy dunes, drifted from s])ot to spot by the might 
of the winds, uplifts itself, enlivened here and there by groups of 
cedars, scattered pines and verdant patches of the bright evergreen 
yopon. Amid these the hotel is situated, in such position as to com- 
mand a view of the outer and the inner waters, and to contiol all the 
varied amusements of bathing, boating, Ashing and other aquatic sports. 
This place is reached from tlie mainland by steamboats from Elizabeth 
City and other points on the waters of Albemarle Sound, and is a 
favorite summer resort, sought most largely by our own people and 
those from the adjacent parts of Virginia. 



260 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

BEAUFORT HARBOR, 

On the shores of whicli are tlie towns of Beaufort and Morehead City, 
has become the seat of much summer enjoyment, made attractive by a 
number of fine hotels and excellent boarding-houses, all so situated as 
to command all the elements of pleasure or of health to be drawn from 
sea-breezes, boating, bathing, fishing and all the enjoyments of a sea- 
side resort. Beaufort harbur is open to the sea, yet protected from its 
violence ; and all the amusements and methods of recreation are enjoyed 
in perfect safety. Beaufort is on the east side of the harbor, about three 
and a half miles acro.ss from Morehead City. There are several fine 
boarding-houses at tliis place, but no large hotel, none having been 
built to replace the great Atlantic Hotel, destroyed in the hurricane of 
1879. Morehead City, on the peninsula between Calico Creek and the 
waters of Newport River on the north and Bngue Sound on the south, 
is the terminus of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, and at 
the point of the peninsula stands the new Atlantic Hotel, one of the 
largest structures of the kind in the State — a building of six hundred 
feet front and three stories high, wiih outbuildings and annexes to meet 
every want. This is the great summer resort for the people of the 
interior, and, during the season, is filled with visitors from all parts of 
the country. It is here that the annual meeting of the Teachers' Assem- 
bly is held, tlie annual meeting of the State Tobacco Association, and 
conventions of different kinds The surf-bathing on the south side of 
the banks is exceptionally fine and safe, the boating facilities very 
ample and good, the fishing unequalled in success and excitement, the 
sea-breezes delightful and invigorating, and there is a total absence of 
sandfiies and n.iosquitoos. With the Newbern Hotel and some superior 
boarding-houses, Morehead City offers one of the most charming and 
satisfactory sea-side resorts on the whole Atlantic coast. 

ISLAND BEACH HOTEL, 

On Wrightsville Sound, eight miles from Wilmington, is comparatively 
a new resort, though Wrightsville, for more than a hundred years, with 
its fine water-front and its groves of live-oaks and cosy cottages, has 
been the annual summer home of many Wilmington families. Its 
eligibility pointed it out as the proper summer encampment of the 
North Carolina State Guard, and it is now so annually occu[)ied. 

Island Beach Hotel is on an Island between the ramified streams of 
tide-water which here diversify' the sound, and is a hotel of first class, 
in size, capacity and management, with fine and safe surf-bathing and 
all the other conveniences and pleasures of a sea-side resort. It is 
reached by a railroad from Wilmington, which makes trips apportioned 
to the |)ublic convenience. 

CAROLINA BEACH HOTEL 

Is of similar character. It is reached by a steamer which runs to a 
landing-])lace fifteen miles below Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River, 
and from the landing a railroad crosses the narrow peninsula, a mile 



RKSOKTS — HOTi:i,S. 201 

and a half, to llif beach. Not far below the hote-l are the remains of 
the famous Fort Fisher, the scene of ihe heaviest b)mbar.lnicnt known 
in warfare. 

The above compris^^ the most frequented resorts on the coast. South- 
port, formerly Smith ville, at the mouth of the Cai)e Fear River, has 
long been a summer resort, and a very pleasant one, but not exclusively 
soj for it is a port of entr3% a busine-s town, and also a county seat, 
thereby creating a conHict between the leisure and pleasure of a sum- 
mer resort and the exactions of work and business. 

MOUNTAIN RESORTS. 

Since railroads have made the difficult ascent of the Blue Ridge, and 
made access to every part of the mountain country easy and speedy, 
the whole mountain region may be regarded as one vast health and 
pleasure resort, in winter as well as in summer. Portions of the moun- 
tain region, indeed, did not wait for the advent of the railroad. The 
fame of its healthfulness, the certain charms of its summer climate, and 
the known beauty and grandeur of its scener}' three-quarters of a cen- 
tury ago drew annual summer ])ilgrimages to t'^e Warm Spiings, now 
the Hot Sj)rings, Asheville, Hendersonville and Brevard, and these two 
last, or rather locations in their vicinit}^, became veritable South Caro- 
lina colonies, with perjnanent and elegant im[)rovements of fine resi- 
dences, ornamental grounds and highly-improved farms. The charm 
of scenery has never abated, the fame of climate has never deceived 
the trust placed in its healthful, invigorating inflnences, and now, since 
easy access is had to it from every part of the United States, Western 
North Carolina has become the sanitorium and the sanitarium of the 
whole country. 

Of the localities become most favored as resorts for all seasons of the 
year, the following are the most prominent : 

HOT SPRINGS, 

On the French Broad River, thirty-seven miles below Asheville, has 
long been known and valued for the virtues of its thermal waters. It 
was known early in this century, and, untd recently, as the AVarm 
Springs — the waters of the springs bubbling up in prof^u.'^e volume near 
the river, with a temperature of from 9S to 104, and were of marked 
efficacy, used as baths, for rheumatism, and were visited by large num- 
bers of invalids, even when to reach them involved long, difficult and 
painful journeys. Hotel succeeded hotel in different degrees of excel- 
lence — succeeded each oiher as successive conflagrations made place for 
improved structures, with increased conveniences and luxuries, culmi- 
nating at last in the present magnificent 

MOUNTAIN PARK HOTEL, 

In siz?, elegance and management, surpassed by few in the United 
States. The scenery is very fine, the h'»tel being situated in an open- 
ing, among the mountains, of a beautiful valle}', about three-fourths of 



262 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

a mile ia width and two or three in length, around which are towering 
heights. The rushing river is on one side, and the bold, impetuous 
Spring Creek on the other. Tiie climate is dry and exhilarating, and 
there is here a remarkable absence of fog at all thnes, though they may 
cloud the valley above and below. The bathing in the waters is made 
attractive and also effective by the provision of marble baths in well- 
constiucted bath-houses, and also by the addition of a large swimming- 
pool. Besides its use as hot baths, the water is used for drinking, as an 
efficient agf-nt in removing dyspepsia, malarial troubles, gout, rheuma- 
tism and nervous prostration. The Western North Carolina Railroad 
(the Paint Rock bianch) runs through the valley, and two daily pas- 
senger trains connect with all parts of the country. 

THE HAYWOOD WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS 

Are in Haywood Count}^, near the town of Waynesville, and near the 
line of the Murfihy branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad, 
connecting by two dail}' passenger trains with the railroad systems of 
the whole country. The spring which gave name to the property is 
fotind on the southern slope of Mount Maria Love, at an elevation of 
2,845 feet above the sea. The spi'ing itself is a distinct sulphur water, 
cool and pleasant to the taste, diuretic and diaphoretic in effect, and 
highly efficient when drank on the premises. IX does not bear trans- 
portation. The chief charm of th« place is the beauty of the locality, 
embosomed in some of the loftiest summits of the majestic Balsam 
Mountains, some of the highest of which confront the hotel — one of 
which, the Richland Balsam, reaching the height of 6,425 feet, and all 
the others reaching 6,000 feet. In front of the hotel, which is in a level 
well-shaded plain of fifty acr«s or more, is the valley of Richland Creek, 
running back in deep recesses into the depths of the mountains, and 
through which runs the bold, clear, sparkling Richland Creek. Beyond 
that is the pretty town of Waynesville, itself a very popular summer 
resort, standing on bold hills and backed and overtopped by grand 
mountain summits. It is to be questioned if anywhere in the moun- 
tains there is presented a more sfdendid or charming combination tlian 
is presented by this mountain-locked and valley-cheered landscape of 
the Richland Valley. There is a large and well-arranged hotel at the 
Springs, filled during the season with delighted guests. 

ASHEVILLE 

Holds peculiar prominence as a resort, for many reasons. It has been 
longer recognized a? the possessor of splendors of scenery and charac- 
ter for health — it long ago attracted visitors on both accounts — and it 
was sooner prepared than other towns for the entertainment of guests 
and the care of the invalid. Its reputation was fixed when access was 
given to it by the completion of the railroads, which practically come 
into it from every point of the compass, and thus there followed rapid 
increase of population, of the throng of visitor^, and in amplitude and 



RESOKTS — HOTEI.S. 263 

completeness of hotels and other abodes for the well and the sick. As 
a summer resort, its excellence has never been gainsaid. It took time 
and experience to establish faith in equal aplitude for the winter. Now 
there is little difference between one season and the other, eminent physi- 
cians everywhere agreeing that in the dry invigorating air of the moun- 
tains even the winter cold that is sometimes experienced is beneficial 
rather than detrimental even to the pulmonary invalid, and that the 
winter climate, so much more mild than that of the North and North- 
west, from which so many of the visiting invalids come, is far more desir- 
able than the milder but damper and more debilitating air of Florida, 
once the almost sole refuge for the sick and suffering. And when to 
natural advantages were added the assurance of the best medical skill, 
and also all the conveniences of a city — electric street railway, electric 
lighting, pure water and other indispensables — the fitness of Asheville 
could not fail of recognition. To all these have been added a group of 
hotels, in size, elegance, convenience and satisfactory management, not 
equalled in the South and scarcely surpassed anywhere. Of these, the 
principal are: 

THE BATTERY PARK HOTEL, 

On an eminence in the very midst of the city, overlooking everything 
around it, but as secluded as if miles away in the country — in the city, 
but not of it — with its own drives, its own electric cars, and everything to 
make the visitor feel that he is as far away from the crowd as he wishes, 
as close to it as his business or his convenience makes desirable. The 
hotel building is an elegant structure, in the so-called Queen Anne 
style, three stories in height, 300x175, and with broad verandas along 
the front, during the winter enclosed in glass. It is heated by steam 
and lighted by electricity. Further mention of details is needle.=s, since 
a house of this character is presumed to be perfect in all its appliances, 
Avhich is just presumption in this case. The views from the building 
from all directions are superb and the source of unending delight — 
over town, over valley, over mountain ranges — only closed by the blue 
outlines of far-distant lines which blend far away with the skies. 

THE SWANNANOA HOTEL, 

In the very centre of the city, is a large well-equipped and well-con- 
ducted four-story brick building, now standing the oldest and the 
pioneer of the system of first-class hotels. 

THE KENILWORTH INN, 

Two miles from Asheville, is most picturesquely situated on a height 
overlooking the Swannanoa River and its beautiful valley. Its situa- 
tion and its architecture, its magnitude and its beauty, combine so 
manv elements of the romantic that the imagination is taken captive, 
and IS more apt to associate it with the visions of fancy than with the 
realities of every-day life. Yet it is a very substantial anfl a very 



264 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLIXA. 

costly fiict, for it is of j^ivat capacity and built with liberal disregard to 
cost. Tl)i-5 hotf^l is within a few hundreii yards of Vm statiuii at tiie 
junction of the Western North Carolin i Railroad and the Asheville and 
Spartanburg road. 

OAKLAND HEIGHTS HOTEL, 

A mile and a half from tiie court-liouse, is scarcely' less beautil'ul than 
Keniiworth Inn, nor leirs beautifully situated than Battery Park Hotel; 
large, capacious, of beautiful design, surmounting a high but gently 
sloping hill, and overlooking a landsca[)e that thrills the heart with the 
enjoyment of its charms This, like the others named, is justly enti- 
tled to the rank of a first-class hotel. 

BELMONT HOTEL* 

Is a fine and capacious hotel, four miles west from Asheville, a short 
distance from the Murphy branch of the Western North Carolina Hail- 
road, but reached more conveniently by a line of electric railway 
extending to the court-house square in Asheville. This also is a hotel 
of supei'ior cliaracter. It is on tlie site of the old hotel made famous 
in the days of the Deaver Sulphur S[)rinas, long since a trusted and 
favorite health resort, and retaining yet its high reputation. There is 
no resort in the mountains whose situation is so beautiful and com- 
manding, or where the air is sweeter or purer. 

ARDEN PARK, 

As its name implies, is a fine park of several hundred acres extent, nine 
miles south of Asheville, on the Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad. 
In the park is a large and excellent hotel, and, in the summer season, 
largely resorted to by visitors, mostly from the extreme South. 

HENDERSONVILLE, 

Henderson Count\', is a very favorite resort for visitors from South 
Carolina and States farther south. With its wide, level streets, its pure 
water, its temperate air and its charming scenery, it merits, as it has 
always received, its annual tribute of appreciation of those who come 
year aft' r year to renew the pleasures and benetiis of preceding experi- 
ence. Adjoining Hendo'sonville, two miles to the south, is 

FLAT ROCK, 

A place proi)erly to be designated as a South Carolina colon}', selected 
more than half a century ago as a refuge from the deadly summer 
fevers of the coast. It was settled and adorned by families of wealth 
and refinement, whose tastes directed, and whose means cons'ructed, 
that which is often conceived but rarely consirucied — a true ?-)/.s iv vrhe ; 
elegant homes, separated from each other by grounds adorned with 

♦since destroyed by tin'. 



RESOR'J'8 — HOTELS. 205 

shrubbery, b}^ long winding avenues of the feathery white-pine, by 
drives, and also by prosaic fields of corn or grain It is now a general 
rather than a special resort, under the f^trokes of war, which shattered 
fortunes and prostrated some social barriers. There is a good hotel at 
Flat Rock. This place is also on the Asheville and Spananburg Rail- 
road, and has its own convenient station. 

BLOWING ROCK, 

In Watauga County, is an overhanging precipitous mass on tlie very 
edge or crest of the Blue Ridge, on the very divide shedding the wateis 
that gather on its top, a part to feed the streams that begin their course 
towards the Mississippi, and a part to trickle down into the affluents of 
the Yadkin. This elevation, 4,000 feet above sea-level, and being an 
advanced outpost of the Blue Riilge, commands wonderfully extensive 
and comprehensive views in all directions. Not only is the Grandfather 
Mountain (the highest and most majestic of all the Blue Ridge Moun- 
tains, a little les-s than 6,000 feet in height) in lull view, but the endless 
succession of the summits of that chain, on the flanks and in the rear, 
while in front s' retches the superb valley of the Yadkin and its numer- 
ous tributary valleys, beyond which rise the Brushy Mountains to lesser 
height, but with picturesque effect, thus relieving that unsatisfying flat- 
ness in the landscape so olten experienced in looking over wnde expanses 
from a superior height. Hanging Rock itself has a height of about 
4,000 feet, but when it is surmounted there is found the often -repeated 
experience in the Bhie Ridge of a greatly undulating surface and every 
temptation to occupy and enjoy it. Therefore, it is not strange that the 
temptation has been yielded to, and the summit of Hanging Rock is 
crested with dwellings and made hospitable with resting-places for the 
wayfarer. It has become one of the favorite resorts for the residents 
of North Carolina towns, for it is mit far to reach, and it has equal 
advantages with all others in the command of the grandest and most 
beautiful of mountain scenery, tlie enjoyment of the purest and most 
invigorating air, and a happy liberation from the feiters of fash in. 
The resort is reached by stage over a turnpike from Lenoir, twenty-four 
miles distant, which place is the northern terminus of the Chei?ter and 
Lenoir Narrow-Gauge Railroad, and connecting Lenoir with the West- 
ern North Carolina at Hickory, twenty miles distant. The ascent up 
the mountain is t'y an easy, safe and well-graded road. Not far from 
the Rock a company has creeled the 

GREEN PARK HOTEL, 

Large and commodious, its comforls and its management in harmony 
wi.h its magnificent surroundings. The air up there is remarkably 
pure and invigorating, and the water used in the hotel and other points 
is drawn from two springs, one of which pays its little tribute to the 
Yadkin, which becomes the Great Pee Dee, and the oth^r into New 
River, which grows into the Great Kanawha, which passes into the Ohio. 



266 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



LINVILLE 



Is a new resort on Linville River, in Watauga Count\',on the top of the 
Blue Ridge and among its grandest scenery, close to the Grandfather, 
not far from the siill loftier Roan. In such a location, it is superfluous 
to speak of the charms of Linville, for they are the possession of the 
whole mountain region, with the exception that here perhaps they are 
disposed and displayed to unusual advantage. A fine hotel is ready to 
receive all visitors. Linville is reached by way of Blowing Rock on 
the south, or by the Cranberrv Railroad and stage from the north. 

CLOUDLAND HOTEL, 

In Mitchell County, 6,342 feet above the level of the sea, is on the very 
top of the Roan Mountain, and is unquestionably the most loftily situ- 
ated first-class hotel in the United States east of the Mississippi. It is 
kept open during the summer, and its dry invigorating air is thought 
to be serviceable in ha3^-fever. The prospects from the summit are 
illimitable. The top of the Roan is, for seven miles in length, a prairie, 
covered with grass, wild flowers and peculiar shrubbery, and rambles 
over it are much enjoyed. Cloudland is reached b}^ a narrow gauge 
railroad from Johnson City, Ttnn., to Cranberry, N. C. and thence by 
stage by a graded road to the top of the mountains. 

HIGHLANDS, 

In Macon County, another favorite resort, is, like Blowing Rock, situated 
near the southern verge of the Blue Ridge, at an elevation of nearly 4,0()0 
feet, and commanding a boundless prospect to the south and east. The 
mountains break down on their south faces in almost sheer precipices, 
that on Whiteside Mountain being 1,800 feet perpendicular, the highest 
precipice east of the Rocky Mountains. The air of Highlands, from 
its great elevation, is dry and exhilarating, and the place is much 
resorted to by the inhabitants of the Southern States. Highlands is a 
colony of Northern healtli-seekers, but the population is a blending of 
the two sections of the country. 

SOUTHERN PINES, 

In the south-west corner of Moore County, is also a colony of Northern 
health-seekers, but, in topography and location, the reverse of High- 
lands, the country being flat or only gently undulating — among ihe 
pine forests, and intersected by streams straggling through impenetra- 
ble marshes of cypress, gum, bay, maple and other swamp trefs, but 
entirely free from malaria, the country being noted for the healthful- 
ness of its people and tlie numerous instances of longevity. This char- 
acter, and the well-known influence of the odors of the pine forest, 
induced its selection as a health resort, and a c nsiderable body of 
Northern men, with their families, have there made their homes. Sev- 



MANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 267 

eral thousand acres of land are owned by them, and very extensive 
peach orchards have been planted, very large vineyards established, the 
cultivation of small fruits undertaken, and the burren-looking pine 
woods have been completely transfotmed. Many handsome dwellings 
have been erected, churches, school-houses and hotels built; also woik- 
shops and factories. A very large hotel, designed in size and elegance 
to be the equal to any in the State, has been contracted for. It is bt com- 
ing a large winter resort for Northern people, both for h( alth and recrea- 
tion. Southern Pines is situated on the line of the Raleigh and Augusta 
Air-Line Railroad, and is quickly accessible from every point. 

Many towns in the State are becoming winter resorts for Northern 
visitors, and all of the=e towns have provided suitable bote s in which 
to entertain them. Winston has built the splendid Zinzendorff, than 
which there is no more elegant hotel in North Carolina — beautiful in 
architecture, complete in appointments, capacious in accommodation, 
luxurious in furniture and table, and superb in location. Greensboro, 
also the entertainer of many winter visitors, has the Benbow and 
McAdoo hotels; Raleigh htis the well-known Yarbirough, and will soon 
have completed the capacious Park Hotel ; Goldsboro has the w^ell- 
known Humphrey House; Wilmington, the Orton and the Purcell; 
Rockingham, the Hotel Richmond ; Fayetteville, the Hotel LaFayette; 
and Chailotte, the Buford, and the Central, with its superb annex, the 
Brilmont, perhaps, of its capacity, the most elegantly furnished and the 
most luxuriantly and conveniently arranged of any hotel in the South. 

If some omissions of resorts and hotels have been inadvertently made, 
the above enumeration will yet prove the existence of such a number 
of them as will certify to the progress of North Carolina in fields in 
which she was assumed to be deficient, and give assurance to the health- 
and pleasure-seekers that in every part of the State provision has been 
made for them. 



IVIANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The existence in most parts of this State of- abundant water-power, 
the abundance, value and variety of the raw material, and its proximity 
to favorable seats for its conversion into the manufactured fabric, and 
the natural aptitude of the people for mechanical industries, early made 
North Carolina foremost among the Southern States in the character of 
a manufacturing State. In iron she was usefully conspicuous during 
the revolutionary war. In the manufacture of textile fabrics she may 
be regarded as the pioneer in the South, her cotton factories antedating 
similar works in both Virginia and South Carolina — her factories, at 
the beginning of the late civil war, exceeding those of any State in the 
South. The war swept away most of the existing establishments, the 
invaders aiming to inflict a deadly blow upon the industries of the 
State as one of the surest steps at subjugation — perhaps with an eve 
also to the suppre-sion of that rivalry which might grow formidable 



208 HAND-BOOK OF XOKTH CAKOl.INA. 

after the restoration of peace, with tli-d advant^iges possessed by the 
South in climate, in the cost of labor, in the econ my of living, in the 
saving of the cosis of transportation, and the more decided advantage 
in the proximity of the cotton fi-lds to the fac ories. The almt)st 
universal de4ruclion of the existing cotton factories was a stunning 
blow to North Caro'ina, but not a f :tal one, fir its force was the same 
as that inllicted upon all the other indu -tries of the State, corporate 
and individual. Jn all of them recupention began trom the same dead 
level of universal ruin and disaster. The sime hopeful look into the 
future, the same undaunted courage in acceplini; calamity, the same 
indomitable energy in the retrieval of losses, the same stead v deter- 
mination to persevere against the mos' formidable obstacles which 
make up the North Caroiini character, had splendid illustration when 
the re?toration of constitutional government and the restoration of wise 
financial systems made it possible to engage again in those industrial 
pursuits demanding the application of capital and the possession of the 
necessary skill. And the increase of the manufacture of cotton is so 
great as to have become a prominent feature in the industrial hi-tory 
of the State. One feature is not to be overlooked : it indicates a change 
in systems and habits only to be wrought by the stern lessons of adver- 
sity, and must be accepted as one of the undreamed-of blessings which 
sometimes are enforced by the teachings of war. Once it was that all 
the skill of m-anagers, superint'^ndents and machinists was intioduced 
from the Nonhern factories. The instances were rare when a young 
Southern man applied himself to the acquisition of the necessary skill 
and experience to lake charge of a factory. Now young men of the 
South make no hesitation in stepping on the lowest round of the lad- 
der and ascending, by gradual but steady step, to the topmost round, 
qualified to take charge of all the intricate and comj)lex details of a 
business for which the liabils of the South once pronounced them inapt 
or disqualilied by social position. Northern skill and experience are 
not discarded or excluded, but real indus'rial independence is only 
attained where those who engage in enterprises involving the problems 
of success or failure are themselves capable of conducting them. Thus 
it has come to pass that, from the seaboard to the mountain^, by the 
use of steam or water-|iower, cot'on factories are established, creattd by 
home cai)ilal, in large measure conducted by home skill. 

The molive-poA'er applied is either water or steam. Of the f rincr 
the aggregate is about 3,500,000 horse-powers. Proftssor Kerr said that 
"if the whole of this were employed in manufacturing, it would be 
adequate to turn 140,000,000 swindles. The water-power of North Caro- 
lina would manufacture three times the entire crop of the country, 
whereas all tiie mills on the continent only spin one-quarter of it. Put- 
ting the crop of the State at 400,000 bales, she has power to manu'^ac- 
ture fift}' times that quantity." 

The choice between water-power and steam is determ'ned by the 
comparative economy in the us^ of either the one or the oth^r. In 
many cases there will be no hesitation in the adoption of the first, for 
natural conditions at once emphasize the decision. At the falls of the 



, .v^ 




^ In the 



MANUFACTURES IN NOKTH CAROLINA. 



269 



Roanoke, of the Tar River, on the rapid declivities of I law and Deep 
Rivers, on never-failing streams in Cumberland and Richmond Coun- 
ties, on the enormous forces of the two Catawbas, and perhaps else- 
where, a second thought would never be given to the application of any 
other power than that so exhaustlessly provided by nature and so easily 
and economically controlled. Elsewhere steam ofi'ers itself as the ready 
and convenient agent in such convenient form that the location of a 
new factory is rather made subservient to the convenience of transpor- 
tation than to the character of the power to be applied; and thus it is 
that cotton factories are found everywhere in operation in the State, on 
the flat lands and by the sluggish waters of the eastern section, along 
the bold streams and the abundant water-falls in the middle section, or 
on the more turbulent torrents of the mountain region. 

In 1870 the census reported thirty-three establishments, which was 
less than before the war. In 1880 the number had increased to forty- 
nine. At present the number, as nearly as can be ascertained, is as 
follows 
course of construcLion 



Among these are not included a considerable number now in 



COTTON MILLS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



COUNTY. 



NAME OF MILL. 



OWNER OR MANAGER. 



POST-OFFICE. 



Alamance Alamance Mill 

Alamance Aurora ... 

Alamance Carolina 

Alamance Glencoe . . . . 

Alamance E. M. Holt Plaid 

Alamance . lElmira 

Alamance W^indsor 

Alamance ^ Altamahaw 

Alamance Belmont 

Alamance iBig Falls 

Alamance Saxai)alia\v 

Alamance .Swepsouville 

Alamance Granite Mills 

Alamance Ossipee .- 

Alamance Sidney 

Alamance iOneida 

Alamance Snow Camp 

Alamance iGraham Cotton Mills _ . 

Alamance Clover Orchard 

Alexander Taylorsville Mills 

Alexander Cotton Mills 

Anson ' Wadesboro Mills 

Buncombe C. E. Graham Mills... 

Bertie Harden Mills 

Burke Dunavant 

Cabarrus Odell Mfg. Co 

Cabarrus Cannon Mfg Co 

Caldwell Patterson's lilills 

Caldwell Granite Falls 

Catawba Monbo Mfg Co. 

Catawba Newton Cotton Mills. . 

Catawba Maiden Cotton Mills.. 

Catawba Providence CottonlNIills 

Catawba Long Island Mills 



E. M. Holt& Son 

L. S. Holt 

J. H. & W.E. Holt 

W. E &J. H. Holt 

W. A. Erwin, Manager.. 

W. E. & E. C. Holt 

J. H. &R. L. Holt 

Holt, Grant & Holt 

L. B. & L. S. Holt 

Julius H. Hardin, Man"gr 
White, Williamson & Co. 
Falls of Neuse Mfg. Co .. 

Thomas M. Holt 

J. W. Williamson & Son. 
Scott, Donnell & Scott... 

L. B. Holt 

Dixon & Dixon 

J. S. Scott, Secretarv 

W. A. W^illard, President 

Alspaugh Bros 

J. L. Davis & Co 

W. J. McLendon 

E. C. Barnhardt, Supt... 

Dunavant & Reid 

J. M. Odell, President... 
J. W. Cannon, Secretary 

Gwvn. Harper & Co . 

Granite Falls Mfg. Co ... 

C. L. Turner 

W. H. Williams. 

H. F. Carpenter & Son .. 
H. F. Carpenter & Son .. 
James Brown 



Burlington. 

Burlington. 

Burlington . 

Burlington. 

Burlington. 

Burlington. 

Burlington. 

Elon College. 

Graham. 

Big Falls. 

Saxapahaw. 

Swei>sonvillc. 

Haw River. 

Elon College. 

Graham. 

Graham. 

Suow Camp. 

Graham. 

Clover Orchard. 

Taylorsville. 

Ston*- Point. 

Wadesboro. 

Asheville. 

Windsor. 

Morganton. 

Concord. 

Concord. 

Patterson. 

Granite. 

Monbo. 

Newton. 

Maiden. 

Maiden. 

Monbo. 



270 



HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

COTTON MILLS IN NORTH CAROLINA— Continued. 



COUNTY. 


NAME OF MILL. 


OWNER OR MANAGER. 

Granite Mfg Co 


POST-OFFICE. 


Catawba 


Granite Mfg. Co 


Hickory. 


Catawba -. 


Wilson's Cotton Mills. 


Rankin & Son 


Maiden. 


Chatliain 


Odell Mfg Co 


Odell Mfg. Co 


Bynum's. 


Cleveland 


Belmont Mills 


.Miller Bros 


Shelby 


Cleveland 


Morgan Falls Co 


Morgan, Cline & Co 


Double Shoal. 


Cleveland 


Laurel Mills 


H S. Miller 


Shelbv. 


Cleveland 


Cleveland Mills, No. 1 . 


H. F Schenck 


Cleveland Mills. 


Cleveland 


Cleveland Mills, No. 2. 


H F. Schenck 


Cleveland Mills 


Cleveland 


Kings Mountain Co... 


Kings Mountain Co 


Kings Mountain. 


Columbus 


Ornitb 


J. H Chadbourn, Jr 


Chadbourn. 


Cumberland 


.Manchester Mills 


J. F. Clark 


Manchester. 


Cumberland 


Fayette ville Mills 


A. A. McKetlian, Treas.. 


Fayetteville. 


Cumberland 


Hope Mills. No. 1 


H C. Gadsbv, Treas 


Favetteville. 


Cumberland 


Hope Mills. No. 2 


H. C. Gadsbv, Treas 


Favetteville. 


Cumberland 


Cumberland 


O. A. Robbins... 

Needham Holmes 


Cumberland. 


Cumberland 


Blutf Mills 


Fayetteville. 
Lexington. 


Davidson 


VVennonah Mills 


W. E. Holt 


Durhaua 


Durham Cotton Mills . . 


Odell&Co 


Durham. 


Durham 


Commonwealth Mills . 


Corporation 


Durham. 


Durham 


VVillardMfg Co 


W. H. Willard 


Willardsville. 


Edgecombe 


Tarboro Cotton IMills.. 


A. 31. Fairlev 


Tarlioro. 


Forsvth 


Arista Cotton Mills.-. 


F. & H. Fries 


Salem. 


Forsvth 


Winston Cotton Mills . 




Winston. 


Franklin 


Laurel Cotton Mills... 


Col J F. Jones 


Laurel. 


Gaston 


Lowell Bluff Mills .... 


J. A. Thompson & Co ... 


Mount Holly. 


Gaston 


\ P Rhvne jMfg Co 


A P. Rhyne 


Mount Holly. 


Gaston 


Tuckaseegee Mills 

Albion Mfg. Co . . 


A. P. Rhyne . 


Mount Hollv. 




W. T. Love 


Mount Hollv. 


Gaston 


Nims Mfg. Co 

Mountain Island Mills. 


E. C. Hutchinson, Sec... 

W. T. Jordan. 

Thomas Gaither 


Mount Hollv. 


Gaston 


Mountain Island. 


Gaston 


Stonesville JMills 


Belmont. 


Gaston 


McAden Mills 

(Jastonia Mills 


R R. Ray, Secretary 

George Gray 


McAdensville. 


Gaston 


Gastonia. 


Gaston 


Harden Mfg. Co 


Oscar Carpenter 


Harden. 


Gaston 


Woodland Mfg. Co.... 


Rush Smith, Manager ... 


Lowell. 


Gaston 


Laurence Mfg Co 


Rush Smith, Manager ... 


Lowell. 


Gaston 


Cherrvville Mfg. Co.. 


T. F. Rhodes 


Cherrvville. 


Gaston 


Laboratory ^lills 


D. F. Rhvne & Co 


Lowell. 


Gaston 


VN'illowbrook .Alfg. Co. 


Blair Jenkins, Secretary. 
J. W. Puett 


Lowell. 


Gaston 


Dallas Mfg. Co 


Dalla.s. 


Gaston 


Stanlv Creek Mfg. Co 


F. L. Pegram, Secretary. 
O. S Causey 


Stanlv Creek. 


Guilford 


EmpiVe Plaid Mills.... 


High Point. 


Guilford 


Minneola Mfg. Co 

Oakdale Cotton Mills.. 


Heath & Co . . 


Gibsonville. 


Guilford 


James Ragsdale, Sec 


Jamestown. 


Guilford 


Greensboro Cotton M'ls 


Hal. M Worth, Sec 


Greensboro. 


Guilford 


Mt. Pleasant Mfg. Co. 


W. M Kline, Secretary.. 


Brick c;hurch. 


Guilford 


Mt. Pleasant Mfg. Co. 


W. M. Kline, Secretary.. 


Libert V. 


Guilford 


Crown Mills 


R. E Causev 


Greensboro. 


Guilford 


Mt. Pleasant Mfg. Co. 


W. M. Kline. 


Kline ville. 


Halifax 


Scotland Neck Cot. M'ls 


N. B. JoseJ^ President... 


Scotland Neck. 


Iredell 


Eagle Mills 


William J. Colvert 

M. Steele 


Eagle Mills. 


Iredell 


Turnersburg Cot. Mills 


Tunu-rsbing. 


Iredell 


Nicholson's Mills 


T. A. Nicholson «S: Son... 


Nicholson's Mills. 


Lincoln 


Elm Grove ilills 


R. S. Rhinehart. Sec 


Lincolnton. 


Lincoln 


Laboratorv IMills 


D. F. Rhvne & Co 


Lincoliitiin. 


Ijincoln 


Willow Brook Mills... 


B. H Sunnier. Manager. 


Lincolnton 


Lincoln 


Machi)elah Mills 


Reinhardt & Son 


Reinhardt. 


Lincoln 


Delmar Mills . 


Lincolnton. 


Lincoln 


Drv Shoals Mills 




Lincolnton. 



MANUKAOTUKES IN NORTH CAKOI-INA. 
COTTON MILLS IN NORTH CAROLINA— Continited. 



271 



COUNTY. 



NAME OP MILL. 



OWNER OR MANAGER. 



R. M. Oats, President 

J. L. Brown, President-. 
E. P. K. Osborne, Pres.. 

Oats Bros _ 

John E. Yount, President 
R. J. Stauffh 



Mecklenbvirg ...j Victor Cotton Mills ... 

Mecklenburg ... Ada Cotton Mills 

Mecklenburg . . . Alpha Cotton Mills 

Mecklenburg ... .Charlotte Cotton Mills. 

Mecklenburg Pineville Cotton Mills. 

Mecklenburg [Carolina Cotton Mills . 

Mecklenburg {Virginia Cotton Mills .lA. J. Derr, President... 

Mecklenburg jCornelius Mills |C. W. Johnston, Pres 

Mecklenburg iLinden Mfg. Co S. R. Neal 

Montgomery . . . lYadkin Falls IT. C. Ingram 

Montgomery ...>Swift Island Mills IC. A. Armstrong. Man.. 

Moore IJonesboro Cotton Mills'L. Acree, President 

Nash .JRocky Momit Mills JThos. H. Battle, Pres. . . 

New Hanover ..[New Hanover Cot. M'ls W. A. French. President 

Pasquotank [Fowlei- Cotton Mills . . . !S. S Fowler 

Randolph . 
Randolph . 
Randoli)h . 
Randolph . 
Randolph . 
Randolph . 
Randoljih . 
Randolph . 
Randolph . 
Randolph 



POST-OFFICE. 



Charlotte. 

Charlotte. 

Charlotte. 

Charlotte. 

Pineville. 

Davidson College. 

Huntersville. 

Davidson College. 

Davidson College. 

Milledgeville. 

Swift Island. 

Jonesboro. 

Rocky Mount. 

Wilmington. 

Elizabeth City. 



Staly Cotton Mills Thomas Hinshaw [Staly . 

Randleman Cotton M'ls John H. Ferree jRandleman. 

Naomi Falls Mfg. Co . . j John H Ferree Randleman. 

J. M. Worth Mfg. Co..lDr. J. M. Worth Asheboro. 

Worth Mfg. Co If. L. Emery, Supt Central Falls. 

Franklinville Mfg. Co-O. R. Cox ...Cedar Falls. 

Randolph Mfg. Co JBenjamin Moffitt Franklinville. 

Columbia Mfg. Co jHugli Parks Franklinville. 

Enterprise Mfg. Co . . . JJ. A. Cole. Coleridge. 



Powhatan Mills . 



Empire Mill 

Richmond Mills 

Ida Cotton Mills 

Midwav Cotton Mills.. 
Mills 



Randolph Island Ford Mills 

Randolph iPlaidville Mills 

Randolph .. 
Richmond .. 
Richmond-. 
Richmond . . 

Richmond JLedbetter Cotton 

Richmond Robei'dell 

Richmond |Pee Dee Mfg. Co 

Richmond Great Falls Mfg. Co. . . 

Rockingham - . . JLeaksville Cotton Mills 
Rockingham ... jReidsville Cotton Mills 

Rowan jSalisbury Cotton Mills 

Rowan j Vance Cotton Blills 

Rutherford jHenrietta Cotton Mills 

Rutherford iForest City Mills 

Surry jElkin Cotton Mills 

Surry Laurel Blulf Cot. Mills 

Surry Green Hill Cotton Mills 

Union [Monroe Cotton Mills . . 

Wake jRaleigh Cotton Mills . . 

Wake ( 'araleigh Cotton Mills 

Wilson I Wilson Cotton Mills. . . 



C. E Randleman Randleman. 

Hugh Parks, Manager... Island Ford. 

JO. Pickard Randleman. 

Empire Mill Company... Empire. 

Malloy & Morgan Laurel Hill. 

Malloy, Morgan & Co Laurel Hill. 

T. C. Leak Rockingham. 

John Ledbetter Rockingham. 

R. L. Steele Rockingham. 

W. L. Steele Rockingham. 

W. L. Evei-ett Rockingham. 

•J. Turner Moi'ehead Leaksville. 

S. H. Boyd, Secretary Reidsville. 

J. M. Knox, Manager Salisbury. 

N. B. McCandless ^Salisbury. 

Tanner & Co Henrietta. 

Dr. G. E. Young & Co... Forest City. 

R. B. Gwyn & Co Elkin. 

A J. Thompson Mount Airy. 

W^. A. Moore Mount Airy. 

G. N. Sampson, Sec Monroe. 

Julius Lewis, President.. Raleigh. 
F. O. Moring, Secretary.. jRaleigh. 
A. Branch iWilson. 



In all, 140 cotton mills in operation, and a number under construc- 
tion, among which are the Pilot Mills in Raleigh, the mills of the Dal- 
las Manufacturing Company at Dallas, the Erwin Mills at Durham, a 
mill at Winston to move 20,000 spindlers, one at Charlotte and one at 
Haw River — in all, 140 in operation and six known to be under con- 
struction. The number of looms at present, as nearly as has been 
ascertained, is 9,128; spindles, 506,324. Number of bales cotton con- 
sumed by factories in North Carolina, 165,200. 



272 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The counties having the greatest number are Alamance, with 19; 
Gaston, with 17; Randolph, 18; Mecklenburg, 9 ; Catawba, 7; Cumber- 
land, (J; Cleveland, G: Lincoln, G; Guilford, 6; Richmond, 7. 

WOOLEN MILLS. 

This is an industry that has not expanded as has that of cotton manu- 
facture, nor does it give [)romise of doing so, since sheep husbandry is 
an industry that is impeded by several causes, chief of which is the 
depredation on the flocks committed by dogs, which public opinion 
continues to favor; so that what are known as "dog laws," or "bills for 
the encouragement of sheep husbandry," are periodically laughed iijto 
oblivion as often as they are presented and discussed in tlie General 
Assembly of the State. Many parts of the State, by soil, climate and 
vegetation, are admirably suited to such industry, but flocks do not 
increase, and the annual clippings find their wa}^ into neighboring 
carding mills, thence to be converted by the domestic hearth into the 
clothing of the hardy people of the country, rather than to the large 
factories which might illustrate the industrial skill and enterprise of 
North Carolina manufacturers, which is done (but not by the home 
})roduct) by factories whose fabrics make favorable comparison wiih the 
choicest fabrics of the Northern looms. Thus the fine mills at Salem 
and at Elkin, and elsewhere, draw their supplies of raw material mainly 
from Georgia and other States, rather than from North Carolina, thus 
emphasizing the blindness of the folly which persists in favoring the 
destructive dog at the expense of the productive sheep. 

The census of 1870 reported 52 establishments operating in the State 
for the manufacture of wool, operating 97 looms and 2,80G spindles. 
This enumeration included not only what are known as factories, but 
also all the local carding mills. The census of 1880 reported only 49 
such establishments of all kinds. At present, excluding carding mills, 
there appear to be nine woolen mills proper, and four classed as cotton 
and woolen mills. All of these employ large capital and rei)resent 
much of skill and enterprise. These establisliments are as follows: 

WOOLEN MILLS. 



n 



FACTORY. POST-OFFICE. LOOMS. SPINDLES. 



Alamance Snow Camp Mills i Snow Camp ^ 

Ashe j Helton Manufacturing Co | Helton . . - 

Ashe Pioneer Woolen Mills | Creston 

Buncombe ' Reems Creek Woolen Mills Weaverville 5 210 

( ;aldwell *Patterson Factory I Patterson 17 500 

Forsyth ; Arista Mills ". ; Salem 38 648 

Haywood Haywood Wooleii Mills | Waynesville 

Lincoln ! *Willow Brook Mills Lincolnton 

Richmond *IlamletMills I Hamlet 6 200 

Rockingham *Leaksville Mills \ Leaksvllle 6 240 

Rutherford ' Rutherford Woolen Mills. Forest City 

Surrv I Green Hills Woolen :\Iills. :Mount Airy 10 4r)0 

Surry ' Elkin Woolen Mills ' Elkin 10 720 



• Woolen and cotton mills. 




I 



MANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 271 

The product of the Arista Mills at Salem consists largely of fine cas- 
simeres, and also jeans and kerseys. The former have a beauty of 
finish and a fineness and firmness of texture which place them on 
equality with similar goods anywhere in the country. Elkin is noted 
for the superiority of its blankets, which are only surpassed by those of 
California. 

TOBACCO FACTORIES. 

This most important industry has had more influence in this State 
than any other — perhaps than all other manufacturing industries com- 
bined — to stimulate energ}' and enterprise, and certainlj^ more than 
any other has contributed to the incrcise and activity of urban popu- 
lation, and, in fact, to the creation of new towns, as illustrated especially 
in striking degree in the growth of Durham, Winston, Reidsville and, 
to les3 extent, of some other places. 

Something has been said elsewhere of the tobacco interest of the 
State. A few examples of operations will be given here as t3''pical 
illustrations; but in the main, from limitation of space, it is necessary 
to confine the subject chiefly to a list of the factories now in operation, 
with the qualification that it may be only approximately complete, 
owing to the difinculties of obtaining fully accurate information. The 
list is as follows: 

Buncombe has 1 plug factory; Alexander, 1; Caldwell, 1; Caswell, 
3; Catawba, 1; Cleveland, 1; Davidson, 4; Durham, 3; Davie, 12; For- 
syth, 39; Guilford, 4; Hertford, 1; Iredell, 6; McDowell, 2; Madison, 1; 
Orange, 1; Person, 11; Rockingham, 10; Rowan, 4; Stokes, 5; Suny, 6; 
Vance, 2; Wake, 2; Wilkes, 2; Yadkin, 3— a total of 110. 

Of smoking factories Buncombe has 2 ; Durham, 4 ; Orange, 1 ; Rock- 
ingham, 1 ; Rowan, 1 — a total of 9. 

Of cigarette factories Buncombe has 1 ; Durham, 1 ; Vance, 1. 

It may be interesting to illustrate the business of the tobacco markets 
in the State, but, owing to the absence of responses to inquiries made, 
it is impossible to give details only in cases of such responses, 

Durham has four tobacco sales warehouses, at which the aggregate 
sales of tobacco for the year ending December 1, 1891, was 11,650,248 
pounds. 

Of smoking tobacco it has five factories — Blackwell's Durham Coop- 
erative Tobacco Company; W. Duke, Sons & Company, branch of the 
American Tobacco Company; R. T. Morris & Sons Manufacturing 
Company, snufF and smoking; Z. I. Lyon &, Co. and the Faucett To- 
bacco and Snuff Company, plug and smoking. 

Of plug factories there are three — the J. Y. Whitted Manufacturing 
Company, Swift &, Brown, and the Farmers' Alliance Manufacturing 
Company. 

Of cigarettes the W. Duke & Sons branch of the American Tobacco 
Company w. the largest, and one of the largest in this country. Its 
output embraces by far the greatest quantity of cigarettes made in Dur- 
ham, as does the Blackwell Smoking Tobacco Company supply the 
greatest amount of smoking tobacco. ...^.^ol, .v^xiwuni. u^ saioKiug u 

„, .„ ,18 - • 18 



272 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The manufactures of Durham for the year 1891 include 626,200,000 
cigarettes; tobacco (plug and smoking), 4,865,835 pounds; cigars, 
2,263,250; snuff, 71,500 pounds. 

There were exported to foreign countries in 1891 — cigarettes, 
141,555,550; manufactured tobacco, 57,385 pounds; leaf tobacco, 
1,981,511 pounds. 

The B. L. Duke Bonded Leaf Warehouse, three stories, 70x200 feet, 
has a capacity of 5,000 hogsheads. 

There are numerous prizehouses or leaf factories. 

The revenue collected at Durham on the products of tobacco was 
$616,129.85. 

Winston has four sales warehouses, in which, during 1891, there 
were sold 16,086,373 pounds, with a value of $1,612,669. The factories, 
in addition, bought for their use in other markets 4,200,000 pounds of 
leaf. Of manufactured tobacco there were sold last year upwards of 
11,000,000 pounds. The revenue paid was $660,405.52. There are 
twenty-seven plug factories in Winston, all large brick buildings, from 
three to six stories in height and from 125 to 250 feet in length. There 
are numerous prize or leaf factories. 

Salem, adjoining Winston, has three or four large plug factories. 

Greensboro has three warehouses, with annual sales of about three 
and a half million pounds. It has two plug factories, the annual out- 
put of which is estimated at 300,000 pounds, and ten leaf factories or 
prizehouses. 

Henderson, in Vance Countv, has four sales warehouses, with sales 
for 1891 of 12,000,000 pounds. "There are fifty-three leaf dealers in the 
town. There is only one plug factory — that of the Burgwin Brothers, 
whose output last year was 175,000 pounds, upon which a revenue tax 
of §10,500 was paid; and there are two smoking tobacco factories, of 
whose operations no information was obtained. 

Wilson. — This is a new market, the extensive cultivation of fine 
tobacco in that section having been only recently undertaken. There 
are no factories as yet, but there are two sales warehouses — the " Plant- 
ers," by Anderson & Jones, and the " Wilson," by Pace ct Woodard. 
The sales for 1891 were a little over 3,000,000 pounds, averaging 9.18 
cents per pound. A smoking tobacco factory will be opened during 
this year. 

AsiiEviLLE has four sales warehouses. This is a c()mi)aratively new 
market, the cultivation of tobacco having been extensively engaged in 
within the past ten years. In 1880 the sales were only 100,000 pounds: 
in 1883-'84, 2,423,662 pounds, and thus far in the season of 1891-'92.' 
5,277,517 pounds. 

The Asheville Tobacco Works combines the diilerent manufactures 
of plug and smoking tobacco and cigarettes. Its operations in each 
are on a large scale, and its reputation for good work and the extent of 
its business justifies the expectations that tobacco manufacturing can 
be carried on as successfully west as east of the Blue Ridge. It may 
be remarked of this factory that its motive power is electricity, in this 
respect standing alone. 

There are in Asheville two smoking tobacco factories. 



1 

i 



MANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 273 



WOOD-WORKING ESTABLISHMENTS 

Include several branches of industry, all of which will be referred to. 
The great quantity of timber in North Carolina, its great variety and 
applicability to various uses, and its general diffusion, would naturally 
suggest its conversion into forms demanding skill and the use of capital, 
independent of those ruder applications within the compass of the most 
unskilled labor. It is no source of pride to North Carolina that to the 
latter is still left so much of the uses of its exuberant timber supply, 
and that so vast a proportion of it still goes abroad as raw material, to 
be returned to her people as the finished product, not only in the finer 
and costly fabrics of furniture and pleasure vehicles, but even in the 
humiliating and reproachful forms of the very axe-handles used by 
her people to hew down her own trees. 

Yet a change is going on, and the lesson of self-dependence is being 
learned; for our people, if they are without thrift, are not without 
skill and industry; and, as the manufacturing instinct is developed, 
they will cease to look exclusively to the skill of the Northern wood- 
worker as they are gradually freeing themselves from the absolute 
dominion of the Northern and European cotton manufacturer. To 
illustrate this tendency, the following list of what may be view^ed as 
the seats of skilled labor, may prove encouraging. In the front rank 
of those may be classed 

THE MANUFACTURE OF CARRIAGES AND BUGGIES. 

Of these, Alamance County has 2, Alexander 2, Ashe 1, Beaufort 1, 
Bertie 3, Caldwell 1, Chatham 1, Cleveland 1, Cumberland 2, Davidson 
2, Durham 1, Forsyth (3, Gates 2, Guilford 1, Haywood 1, Halifax 1, 
Hertford 3, Lenoir 2, Lincoln 2, Moore 2, Pasquotank 1, Randolph 2, 
Sampson 2, Vance 1, Wake 1, Warren 3, Washington 3, Wilkes 2, Wil- 
son 1, Yadkin 4— in all, 57; established in 30 out of the 96 counties of 
the State, and representing every section of it. Among them there is 
wide range of excellence, defined and governed largely by time and 
experience. Many of them are new— the product of the new indus- 
trial evolution. A few are old, and are meritorious, not only for the 
character of work done by them, but because of the courage and fore- 
sight which gave them existence far in advance of similar enterprises 
in the State. The oldest, largest and most celebrated for the excellence 
of its work and good taste and elegance of construction is that estab- 
lished in Fayetteville in 1832 by Gardner & McKethan, continued by 
A. A. McKethan until his death, and now conducted under the name of 
McKethan Sons. 

WAGONS, ETC. 

Not less important, and of much wider application, is the manufac- 
ture of wagons, carts, etc., conducted by 32 different establishments in 
almost the same number of counties, as follows: Alamance has ], 



274 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Alexander 2, Anson 8, Cabarrus 1, Caldwell 1, Catawba 1, Chatham 1, 
Clay 1, Cleveland 1, Cumberland 2, Davie J, Durham 1, Gaston 1, 
Johnston 3, Montgomerv 2, Pamlico 1, Pender 1, Rutherford 1, Surry 
1, Stanly 1, Wake 3, Yadkin 1. 

Among the oldest and largest of these is the factory at Waughtown, 
Forsyth County, three miles south of Winston, now conducted by 
George P. Nissen & Co. It was founded in 1834 by J. P. Nissen. The 
business is now conducted in two large brick buildings; the machinery 
is operated by steam; and the output is one hundred road and farm 
wagons per month, with such character for good workmanship as to 
find ready market throughout this and the States of Georgia, South 
Carolina and \'irginia. 

An establishment of similar magnitude and character exists at 
Hickory, the property of Mr. J. G. Plall, but ])articulars cannot be 
given. Of 

FURNITURE FACTORIES, 

There are 25, of which 1 is in Ashe, 3 in Buncombe, 1 in Davie, 2 in 
Forsyth, 1 in Gaston, 2 in Guilford, 1 in Henderson, 3 in Lincoln, 1 in 
Macon, 1 in Martin, 1 in Mecklenburg, 1 in Montgomery, 1 in Moore, 
2 in Rowan, 1 in Surr^^, 1 in AVake, 1 in Wayne, and 1 in Yadkin. Of 

HUBS, SPOKES AND HANDLES, 

There are G factories, viz.: 1 in Bertie, 1 in Guilford, 1 in Mecklenburg, 
1 in Montgomer}^, 1 in Rowan, 1 in Rutherford. Of 

SASH, DOOR AND BLIND FACTORIES, 

There are 24, viz.: In Buncombe 2, Burke 1, Cabarrus 1, Caldwell 1, 
Catawba 2, Davidson 2, Durham 1, Forsyth 1, Gaston 1, Guilford 3, 
Johnston ], Rowan 3, Stanley 1, Surry 1, Wake 2, Wilkes 1. 

Of another variety of wood-working factories is that at Newbern for 
the manufacture of plates and dishes made out of sweetgum, and also 
berry baskets. 

At Wilmington is the somewhat similar establishment of the Indus- 
trial Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. John D. Bellamy is Pres- 
ident and J. B. Brinson is Superintendent. This is operated by steam, 
and employs 125 people. The material chiefly used is gum logs, and 
the product is butter plates and baskets, berry baskets and crates, 
banana and fruit crates, etc. The products are chiefly sent to New 
York. 

There are two large coffin factories — one at Burlington, the other in 
Yadkin County — the products of which are di:jtributed through tlie 
Southern States. 

Of the other simpler or ruder establishments for the conversion of 
the products of the forest, there are, as nearly as can be ascertained, in 
operation in the State 114 steam saw-mills, in achlition to numerous 
water mills, 30 planing mills, IS shingle mills, SO turpentine distil- 
leries — undoubtedly below the actual number; and, as largely con- 
nected with the products of the forest, a very large number of tanneries. 



MANUFACTURES IN' NORTH CAROLINA 275 

among the largest and best equipped of which is the one at Morganton, 
constructed and conducted on the most advanced scientific appUcation 
of theory to intelligent practice. 

PAPER MILLS. 

Originally using only the waste of textile fabrics, the immensely 
increased consumption of paper demand other raw material, for the 
supply of which human ingenuity was heavily taxed. The additional 
material has been found in wood-pulp, mechanically or chemically 
prepared. The abundance in North Carolina of soft woods suitable 
for such purposes has led largely to the combination of w^ood-pulp 
with cotton, flaxen and hempen fibre; and the factories now in opera- 
tion in the State are able to supply as good a material for book, print- 
ing and wrapping-paper as can be made elsewhere. 

There are three principal paper mills in North Carolina — that at 
Salem, in Forsyth County ; the Falls of Neuse, in AVake County; and 
the Tiddy Mills, at Long Shoals, in Lincoln. The product of these 
mills is bristol-board, writing-paper, book and news-paper, and wrap- 
ping-paper of all kinds. 

KNITTING MILLS. 

Among the recent manufactures introduced into North Carolina is 
that of cotton hosiery, made possible by the invention, or rather per- 
fection, of knitting machinery, making ready response to the universal 
demand for an indispensable article of personal wear, providing easy 
and healthful employment to large numbeis of females and children, 
and, with the ready and abundant supply of raw material, providing a 
good fabric at greatly reduced cost, and, in addition, breaking another 
chain of industrial dependence. The experiment of such enterprise 
is comparatively new, and the manufacture of hosiery has only recently 
been enrolled in the State statistics as an additional subject of employ- 
ment, investment and profit. Without question, another decade will 
show" a great increase in the number of these establishments for knit 
goods of all kinds, and of all applicable material. 

At present there are knitting mills for the making of hosiery at the 
following places, viz.: At Pittsboro 1, Tarboro 1, Salem 1, Greensboro 1, 
Selma 1, Kinston 1, Salisbury 1, Raleigh 1; and at Elizabeth City a 
factory for the knitting of seines. 

The labor employed is that adapted to the light nature of the work 
to be done, and, with the exception of such men as are needed in the 
direction of the business and the superintendence of the machinery, is 
done by women and children. 

CANNERIES. 

The discovery of the |»rocesses by which fruits, vegetables, meats and 
other common substances that provide human subsistence or add to 
human comfort or luxury, are canned, has conferred one of the greatest 
boons that has ever blessed humanity. It really marks an era in human 
progress, separating by distinct and emphatic lines that cheerless period 



276 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

during which even the civilized races passed through the greater por- 
tion of their existence condemned to the monotonous use of the products 
of the grainfields, unvaried by the grateful succulence of fresh vegeta- 
bles and juicy fruits, from the present days of enjoyment of the daily 
repasts over which the genial spring and the luxuriant summer pre- 
side in perpetual reign ; and with the change comes not only comfort 
and pleasure, but health and the amelioration of much human discom- 
fort and actual suffering. The seaman, on his long and trying voj^Tges, 
cut off from land, confined to the stores he takes along with him, once 
constrained to "hardtack and salt junk," and the doomed victim to 
scurvy and other ailments incident to his sea diet, now, with his full 
supply of canned vegetables, fruits and fresh meats, no longer envies 
the happier landsman, but, on the troubled waters, may vividly renew 
the happy experience of his former life on land. The soldier, in his 
camp or on his march, draws from his tin garden grateful additions to 
the once repulsive army beef and insipid crackers; and the traveler, 
from the same magic storehouse, is independent of the hardships of his 
route, and goes on his way with perennial renewal of his vigor and his 
cheerfulness. And at home the good housewife has it in her power to 
hold unbroken the culinary links of the year and keep in living memory 
the summer blessings of the garden and the orchard. There is now no 
gap in the seasons, for command over them has been obtained and they 
stand subdued to human will and intelligence. 

The revolution is a quiet one, but vast and important. It changes 
the modes of li/elihood, it makes marked additions to health and com- 
fort, it adds largely to prosperity; for it makes profitable that which 
was superfluous and perishable, it evokes new industries and stimulates 
new enterprises, it gives employment to a new and large class of arti- 
zans and laborers, and it has become an important factor in the affairs 
of commerce. It is not to be wondered at that the trade in "canned 
goods" has assumed such amazing dimensions or become of such tre- 
mendous importance; and this importance will not diminish .so long 
as mankind retains his capacity to eat. It will rather increase, since 
so much is added to his comfort and to the gratification of his tastes, 
and the area of the consumption of canned products will enlarge in 
proportion to the expansion of the knowledge of this great modern 
revelation. 

The adoption of this new industry by the people of this State has 
been slow and cautious, perhaps wisely so; but no State is so advan- 
tageously situated for the attainment of success. Vegetables of all 
kinds known to the temperate zone grow here in great perfection in all 
parts of the State, and the quantity for artificial preservation may be 
indefinitely increased. In tlie eastern section, so largely devoted to 
truck farming, there must always be an excess of production over the 
quantity needed for the earh^ market, and this excess need neither be 
lost or wasted if canning is resorted to. In the middle and ^A'estern 
sections, equally available for the culture and preservation of vegeta- 
bles, superior conditions exist for the cultivation of fruits in greater 
variety and perfection, and in those sections tlie increase of the" canning 
industry may be looked for. 



MANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 277 

Tliere appear to be at the present time the following canneries for 
fruits and vegetables in operation, viz.: 2 in Alamance, 1 in Anson, 
1 in Beaufort, 2 in Buncombe, 1 in Caldwell, 2 in Chatham, 1 in Cleve- 
land, 1 in Davidson, 1 in Durham, 1 in Gaston, 2 in Guilford, 1 in 
Halifax, 2 in Henderson, 1 in Iredell, 2 in Pender, 2 in Richmond, 1 in 
Rowan, 3 in Rutherford, and 1 in Wayne — in all, 28. 

OYSTER CANNERIES. 

These are few in number. With an increased production of oysters 
under the new system of cultivation, and with the legal protection 
secured to private rights, it is possible the future will see a decided 
increase. At present there appear to be the following oyster canneries 
in the State, viz. : 1 m Brunswick, 2 in Carteret, 1 in Craven, 1 in Pam- 
lico, and 9 in Pasquotank. That in Craven, at Newbern, is very exten- 
sive. 

COTTON-SEED OIL MILLS. 

With the thrifdessness once characteristic of the South, with disre- 
gard to the principles of economy wdiich might be the suggestion of a 
plurality of profitable results from one product, or with the contempt 
for small industries as compared with the overshadowing proportions 
of the unrivalled staple of the reigning King Cotton, the incapacity of 
the cotton plant to yield anything but the fleece gathered in the fields 
was, until in recent years, generally conceded. The separated seed were 
roughly shovelled out into the open ground as so much waste, or to rot 
until in condition to be returned to the ground as manure for the next 
crop — a grudging compensation for heedless waste and thoughtless 
extravagance. The stalk, at some future day to be recognized for its 
value in its application to the manufacture of fibre or paper, is still left 
neglected where it grew, until in the coming spring it is rudely beaten 
down and turned under by the plow, with half incredulous concession 
that it may, in its decay, do no harm to the succeeding growth. 

The fact tliat the cotton seed did contain a valuable oil was not 
unknown, and long ago the rude processes to which the seed in their 
natural condition were subjected made partial returns of a crude though 
useful oil. In the present age of economic and scientific research, prose- 
cuted at a time when inventive genius was never so daring or so little 
thwarted by the difficulties which had appalled the past, the real value 
of the cotton seed began to be understood. Machinery was invented 
by which they were freed from the encasing and absorbing hull, the 
freed and oily kernel made ready for the press, and now the cotton 
grower finds in the once despised and rejected surplus of the cleaning 
process a 'substance in value bearing large proportion to the lint itself — 
an oil which enters largely into culinary and mechanical uses, a cake 
which has become an important subject as food for cattle, and a meal 
now beginning to be recognized as useful nutritious human aliment, 
and possibly in the hull itself a substance to be utilized in some profit- 
able mode. In this cotton-seed oil production many millions of dollars 
have been invested in mills and machinery, a new and important mate- 



278 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

rial added to the sul:)jects of domestic and foreign commerce, and at 
home a ready and protitable market given to the farmers for that wliich 
was once wasted, or the value of which was only imperfectly reaHzed, 

The cotton crop of this State is, aniuially, from 325,000 to 375,000 
bales. In the quantity of lint cotton required to make a bale of 500 
pounds it is estimated that there are 800 fiounds of seed, which is 
enough, if so applied, to furnish a large proportion of the mills now 
ruiniiog in the United States. 

In 1880 there were nine mills in operation in North Carolina. There 
appear at present to be 1 in Fayetteville, 1 in Wilmington, 1 in Char- 
lotte, 2 in Tarboro, 1 in Raleigh, 1 in Washington, 1 in Newbern, 1 in 
Elizabeth City, 1 in Kinston, i at Gibson's in Richmond County, 1 in 
Laurinburg, 1 at Conetoe in Edgecombe County, 1 at Battleboro in the 
same county — a total of 14, with an average capacity of 20 tons per day. 

FERTILIZER FACTORIES. 

With the rapidl^^-increasing use of artificial fertilizers, and with the 
almost complete exhaustion of the natural supplies of the ammoniated 
guano from Peru and other sources, there his grown up imperative 
demand for the artificially-manipulated substitutes. For a considera- 
ble period after the Peruvian guano supplied the demand, the factories 
of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond competed for the supply of 
the North Carolina farmers. Now the North Carolina manufacturers, 
if they do not control the market, are enabled to offer a very formida- 
ble competition; and, in the excellence of their product, stand, under 
rigid scientific lests, on equal footing with other States. 

A number of the factories in this State compound their fertilizers 
for different applications. In naming the establishments these differ- 
ent uses will be notel The following is a list published by the Agri- 
cultural Department of North Carolina in a recert Monthly Bulletin: 

Acme Manufacturing Company. Wilmington— Latimer's Cotton Fertilizer, Acme 
Fertilizer, Acme Acid Pliospliate, Gem Fertilizer. 

B. J Bell & Co , Beaufort— Fish Scrap. 

Calder Brothers, Wilmington— Kainit 

Charlotte Oil and Fertilizer Company, Charlotte— Charlotte Acid Phosi)hate, Char- 
lotte Ammoniated Fertilizer. 

Dey & Brothers, Beaufort — Fish Scrap. 

j\I. Dundas, Jamestown— Bone Meal 

Durham Fertilizer (Company, Durham — Progressive Farmer Guano, Nortli Caro- 
lina Alliance Otticial Acid Phosphate, North Carolina Official Farmers' Alliance 
Guano, Durham Bull with Peruvian Guano. Durham Ammoniated Fertilizer, Dur- 
ham H. a. Acid Phosphate, Kainit, Nitrate of Soila. Griffith Double Bone Phosphate. 

Goldshoro Oil ('ompanv, Goldsboro— Prolitic Cotton (Grower. 

E. H. & J. A Meadows & Co., Newbern— Jleadows' Special Guano for all Crops, 
Meadow.s" SiK'cial Guano for Cabbage, Fish Scrap, Kainit, Cotton Guano, Diamond 
Dissolved Bone, Special Potato Guano, Diamond Acid Phosi)hate. 

Mammal Product Company, Hatteras— Ground Porpoise Bone, Ground Porpoise 
Meat Scrap. 

Navassa Guano Company, Wilmington— Navassa Cotton Fertilizer, Navassa Guano, 
Navassa Acid Phospliate, German Kainit, Navassa Special Root Fertilizer for Early 
Truck, Navassa Truck Guano Soluble Ammonia, Navassa Grain Fertilizer. 

Powers, Gibbs & Co . Wilmington— Gibbs & Co.'s H. H. Ammoniate<l Phos])hate, 
Eagle's Island Ammoniated tKiano, Sea Bird Ammoniated Guano, Cotton Brand 
Annnoniated Dissolved Bone, Bone and Potash Phosphate. 



MANUFACTURES IX NORTH CAROLINA. 279 

F. S. Royster & Co., Tarboro— Farmers' Bone Fertilizer, Farmers' Special Cotton 
Compound, Farmers' X X Acid Phosphate, Carolina Soluble Bone, Oronoco Tobacco 
Guano, Truckers' Delight, Cotton Seed Meal. 

Reidsville Fertilizer Company, Reidsville — Broad Leaf Tobacco Guano, Acid Phos- 
phate and Banner Fertilizer. 

R. N. Sweet, Wilmington — Kainit. 

Caraleigh Phosphate Mills, Raleigh — Eclipse Acid Phosphate and Kainit, North 
Carolina Ammoniated Phosphate. 

Raleigh Oil Mills and Fertilizer Co. — Raleigh Standard Guano and Cotton Seed Meal, 

PINE LEAF MANUFACTURES 

And the preparation of Creosoted Timber until recenth' have been 
important industries in Wihnington and vicinity. The former were 
conducted at the Acme Mills, seventeen miles from Wilmington, in 
Columbus County. At this factoiy are made carpeting, material for 
mattresses, matting, and cotton-bagging, an application called into 
existence by the increase of duties on jute and jute bagging. In the 
process of manufacture, a valuable medicinal oil, known as pinoleum, 
is distilled. The creosoting establishment at Wilmington for the pre- 
paration of logs used in piling or for use in tropical waters where timber 
is subject to the attacks of the destractive teredo navalis, at one time 
was conducted with much activity, the prepared logs being in great 
demand in the West Indies and along the Mexican coast. The works 
are still operated, but apparently with less energy than in the past. 

RICE MILLS 

Are important in connection with the increased culture of the interior 
or upland rice. The number of these mills, which was four in 1880, 
has not increased, but rather diminished. At that period there were 
one at Wilmington, two at Newbern, and one at Goldsboro. Those at 
Newbern appear to have been discontinued. 

BUCKET FACTORIES. 

Of these there are two at Fayetteville. One of these is operated by 
A. A. McKethan, and produces cedar pails and churns, oaken well- 
buckets, etc. It is operated by steam. The other is the Fayetteville 
Bucket Factory, of which Dr. J. W. McNeil is President. This also is 
operated by steam. The business of these establishments is large, 
extending to many States, North and South. The material used for 
pails and churns is chiefly the juniper or white cedar, procured from 
the swamps of the adjacent country, and from its sweetness and its 
durability is preferred to any other brought in rivalry with it. 

POTTERY, ETC. 

The abundance of excellent material for the manufacture of brick, 
pottery, tiling and porcelain might have induced many years ago the 
inception of industries suggested by the {)Ossession of so much good 
material. There was, until the comparatively recent industrial revival, 
an indifference, excei)t in the manufacture of brick and coarse potter3^ 
For the best of these recourse was still had to Northern skill and 
energy. Now, our people are turning to the use of their own resources 



280 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and the application of their own skill, and are rapidl}' adding other 
victories in their achievement of industrial freedom. 

Probably the most important establishment that came into existence 
under this new stimulus is the Pomona Terra Cotta Company, two 
miles west of Greensboro, of which .J. Van Lindley is President and 
W. C. Boren Secretary and C. P. Boren Superintendent. The works 
are extensive and the operations comprehensive, including drain-pipe 
of all sizes, vitrified sewer-brick, fjirm drain-tiles, firebrick, etc. The 
brick, by careful analysis, presents remarkable qualities, and proves 
the equal of any found in the United States. This analysis shows: 
Silica, 62.02 per cent.; alumina, with a Jaint trace of iron, 25.06 per 
cent., and fractional percentages of magnesia, lime, soda, and potash. 
The firebrick has found great demand in and out of the State. So has 
the sewer and drain-pipe, and every other product of the factory. 
Three miles west of Morgantou is an extensive tile and drain-pipe 
factory; and at Biltmore, two miles from Asheville, are the extensive 
tile, drain-pipe and brick works of George ^^anderbilt. 

KAOLIN. 

From the decomposition of feldspar in the older rock formations in 
Xorth Carolina has resulted long seams or beds of this material, so 
finely applicable, as found in some localities, to the manufacture of the 
better qualities of porcelain. It is found in large quantities in Guil- 
ford County, near (ireensboro; in Johnston County, near Clayton, and 
in Chatham, and other counties. But ])erhaps the most extensive and 
valuable veins or deposits are found among the mountains, from 
Mitchell to Cherokee. In only one — Jackson — has there been any 
effort made to use it. Extensive beds of kaolin are found in the hills 
bordering upon Savannah Creek and in the vicinity of Webster; and 
at Dillsboro, at the mouth of Scott's Creek, and at Sylva, two miles 
above, extensive works have been erected for the preparation and 
refinement of the material for the use of the pottery and porcelain 
Avorks in New^ Jersey. Articles made from the kaolin of Jackson 
County show a beauty and transparency of texture and a durability 
of fabric equal to an}' similar material found in the United States. 

AGALMATOLITE, 

Frequently called soapstone, differs from soapstone, known west of the 
]51ue Ridge as talc, in having in its composition only a small percent- 
age of magnesia, that element being replaced by alumina. Agalmato- 
lite is found in large quantities on Deep River, in Chatham County, of 
fine grain and a variety of beautiful, delicate colors — pink, blue, white — 
and at one time was reduced to powder in large quantities and sent to 
the Northern factories to be used in the manufacture of paper — writing 
and wall — soaps, cosmetics, pencils, etc., and also perhaps for the adul- 
teration of sugar, candies and confectioneries. 

TALC 

Is found in large quantities in Macon along the banks of the Nantahala 
River, and in Cherokee in the valley of Valley River, and on the 



MANUFACTURES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 281 

banks of Nottely River, where, from the whiteness and softness of the 
texture, it is locally known as Cotton Rock. The Nottely talc has for 
some years past been extensively quarried and sent North via Atlanta, 
for the uses above ascribed to agalmatolite. That of Valley River and 
of the Nantahala is firmer in texture, of a translucent pearly-colored 
appearance; and on the latter stream a large mill is in operation for 
its reduction to impalpable powder, which is also sent North for many 
uses. It is also formed into tips for gas-burners, pencils, and other 
forms. The quantity is inexhaustible. 

BARYTES 

(Sulphate of baryta) is found in large quantities in the mountains 
along the French Broad River in Madison County, and, in a mill on 
Spring Creek, at Hot Springs, is ground into fine powder, and is then 
in condition to acquire some of the uses of talc and agalmatolite, 
though probably its largest use is as a substitute for zinc in the manu- 
facture of white paints. 

These mineral substances are named here as connecting themselves 
naturally in the topic of manufactures with the clays and other sub- 
stances entering into manufacturing industries; corundum, asbestos 
and mica may find place elsewhere. 

IRON MANUFACTURES. 

The census of 1880 records twenty establishments for the manufac- 
ture of iron and steel as then existing. They were named without 
classification or discrimination. As there are large machine-shops, 
railroad shops, agricultural implement works and other kindred works 
almost everywhere in the State, the number of these is certainly greater 
now than then. 

Of the varieties of manufactures, there is to be found the edge-tool 
manufactory of Walter Watson at Fayetteville, for the manufacture of 
the various Jools used in the gathering of turpentine, and from which 
the supply is obtained for most of the "turpentine orchards" through- 
out the South; also, at the same place, McMillan Brothers, manufac- 
turers of turpentine stills, the largest establishment of the kind in the 
South, with a branch at Savannah, Ga., from which the trade every- 
where is supplied. Large agricultural implement works are in opera- 
tion at Tarboro, Raleigh, Goldsboro, Mount Holly, and Bost's Mills, in 
Cabarrus County; two foundries at Salem, one in Catawba, one at Hen- 
dersonville, one at Lincolnton, one at Greensboro, one at Murfreesboro, 
and two in Cumberland. At Charlotte are the works of John Wilkes, 
for machines and castings; and the Liddell Iron Works, for making 
engines, cotton presses, etc. At Raleigh are the extensive works of the 
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company, for the manufacture of freight 
and passenger cars for its own use and that of other companies; also 
passenger coaches. 

What gives promise of being the most extensive iron works in the 
State are the North Carolina Steel and Iron Works under construction 
at Greensboro and nearly ready for operation. The capital stock of the 



282 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

company is $1,000,000. A one-hundred-ton blast furnace has been 
erected. The estabHshnient is designed for the manufacture of pig-iron 
and Bessemer steel. The ores will chietiy be obtained from Ore Hill, 
in Chatham County, forty miles distant. 

SOME OTHER INDUSTRIES. 
A shoe factory is in operation at Asheville,* with a capital of $50,000, 
which makes shoes of all kinds, fine and coarse, employing seventy 
people and turning out men's, ladies' and children's shoes of all grades, 
and having a good trade in this State and also Georgia, South Carolina 
and Tennessee; a cotton-bag factory at Concord and one at the Orange 
Factory in Durham County; a bleaching factory at Concord ; a shuttle- 
block factory at Lexington; a factoiy for making cotton-planters at 
Greenville; one for making tobacco flues at Westtield, Stokes County; 
three for making locust-pins, or trunnels, at Bryson City, Swain County; 
and furniture factories — at Jefferson, Ashe County, one; at Asheville, 
three; at Lenoir, one; at Salem, two; at Gastonia, one; a^t High Point, 
two;. at Lincolnton, two; at Williamston, one; at Charlotte, one; at 
Mount Gilead, Montgomery County, one ; at Sanford, one ; at Salisbury, 
two ; at Raleigh, one ; at Goldsboro, one, and at Jacksonville, one ; and 
at Waynesville, a factory for fancy woodwork; at Salem, one for bas- 
kets; at High Point, one for brooms; at Selma, one for tobacco boxes, 
and one in llowan ; at Bayboro, one for potato barrels; at Clinton, one 
for crates and baskets. 



RAILROADS. 

A detailed history of railroad construction and progress in North 
Carolina would perhaps be out of place in these pages. Nevertheless, 
it may be both interesting and instructive to take a brief glance at the 
changes wrought within the last sixty years, from the period when 
public thought began to be directed to this marvellous vehicle of mod- 
ern advancement. Without question, the " Numbers of Carlton," those 
wonderfully sagacious, hopeful, almost prophetic letters of Dr. Joseph 
Caldwell, President of the University of North Carolina, exerted the 
first powerful influence upon the public mind by demonstrating the 
feasibility of railroad construction over the line designated in his sug- 
gestion, the enormous development of the State by providing a cheap, 
swift and pleasant system of intercommunication, the increase of wealth 
and population by making accessible that which was difhcult of reach, 
the creation of new subjects of public revenue, and, what was of more 
value than all, the evoking of a broad, common, cordial public senti- 
ment by bringing the people of all sections into the field of a universal 
State unit}', effacing in time those feelings of alienation, almost antag- 
onism, which a people so widely separated and so topographically dis- 
joined must unavoidably have entertained towards each other. 

In the light of experience, the ideas, the plans, even the sanguine 
hopefulness of Dr. Caldwell, have now suggestions bordering on the 

♦Since removed to F.lizabethton, Tenn. 



RAILROADS. 283 

ludicrous. The motive power to be used, the cost of construction, the 
speed of trains, all bear marks of that inexperience which results had 
not enlightened; for, it must be remembered, when the " Numbers of 
Carlton" appeared (they were written in 1827 and published in volume 
form in 1828) there were only three miles of railroad in the whole 
United States; and in England, where there was one road for traffic, 
and to some extent, of travel, in operation, the steam locomotive, though 
its capacity had been demonstrated, had not fully won the confidence 
of the cautious, prejudiced English people, or the cordial approval of 
jealous rival engineers and mechanical constructors. Dr. Caldwell 
wrote even before the bold projectors of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road Company had embarked in their giant undertaking, and he sug- 
gested the use of steam, when that great corporation contented itself 
with the contemplation of the use of horse-power, with perhaps the 
occasional application of sail-power. Dr. Caldwell did, indeed, include 
in his estimates the use of horse-power, but his philosophic mind, free 
from prejudices, had been convinced through his own observations of 
the future of steam, and he foresaw the time when it would become the 
universal motor. In this State it so happened that the occasion never 
arose when it was called upon to displace animal power; for, wlien the 
time arrived for the buil(5ing of railroads in North Carolina, steam had 
become the undisputed master. The first iron wa}' laid in this State 
did, indeed, use horse-power. That was the tramway constructed in 
Raleigh in 1832 to transport material from the granite quarry to the 
Capitol, then under construction. It was called a railroad then; now 
it is recalled by its real name of tramway. But it had its uses, besides 
the aid given in the building of the Capitol. It familiarized the public 
mind with the conception of a railroad, and gave ocular and practical 
demonstration of its superior capacity for the trarisportation of heavy 
weights over the steep, heavy, often muddy, common roads of the 
country. 

Dr. Caldwell's plan of a railroad from Newbern, with water connec- 
tion thence to Beaufort harbor, and westward as far as the State line, 
near Paint Rock, while it interested the thoughtful, and amused specu- 
lative, minds, bore no fruit for a long time. It lay in abeyance long 
enough to have permitted the building of several lines transverse to 
the line he had proposed, and almost neutralizing his sagacious and 
patriotic purposes. In our day his ideas are realized, and on a grander 
and more practical and useful scale than his experience enabled him 
to conceive; yet from him the honor and merit of such conception can- 
not be withheld, for with him it was as original as it was bold and com- 
prehensive. 

The first line of railroad chartered in North Carolina was that between 
Fayetteville and Salisbury. The charter was granted in 1833, and a 
survey was made. But the terminal towns were relatively small and 
poor; the intermediate country was thinly populated and poorer even 
than the towns; capitalists from abroad could not be won to invest in 
an enterprise that seemed chimerical, and which did not have the 
encouragement or the experience of other like enterprises, and the 



284 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

State had not learned (what it since has painfully unlearned) how to 
foster the energies of its people by aid of the public treasure or credit. 
And this, the first essay at railroad building in Xorth Carolina, failed. 

Virginia had thrust the ends of two of its roads within our borders. 
The Petersburg and Roanoke road touched the Roanoke River at 
Blakely, a few miles below the present Weldon. The terminus of this 
road, by the construction of the Greenville branch, was afterwards 
changed to Gaston, several miles above, and at the foot of the slack- 
water navigation of the Roanoke, which gave facilities to the transpor- 
tation of the large tobacco and grain crops of the border counties of 
Virginia and North Carolina. This new terminus prompted the sug- 
gestion of an extension of the line from Gaston into North Carolina, 
w'ith its terminus at Raleigh, and passing through the wealthy counties 
of Halifax, Warren, Granville, Franklin and Wake; and thus came into 
being the Raleigh and Gaston road, begun in 1836, finished in 1840. 

In like manner the extension of the Seaboard and Roanoke road 
from its termiaus at W^eldon to Wilmington, to form a link in the line 
of travel between the North and the South, seized upon the public mind 
as feasible and profitable. But the original cliarter of this road contem- 
plated not a direct course, but one by way of the State capital, and the 
corporate name of the company, chartered in 1836, was the Wilmington 
and Raleigh Road, subsequently changed. to that of Wilmington and 
Weldon Road, and completed between the terminals in 1840. It fell 
to the town of Wilmington, aided by its own energies and high credit, 
alone to carry out this most remarkable of modern enterprises— a road 
of 164 miles in length, in the comparative infancy of the railroad sys- 
tems — and to open to the world at this early period one of the longest 
roads then in existence on this continent, longer than an}' at that time 
finished in Europe. 

What is justly to be called the conception of Dr. Caldwell did not 
take form until about 1853, when the North Carolina road from Golds- 
boro to Charlotte, a distance of 223 miles, was undertaken, and com- 
pleted in 1856. At Goldsboro the Atlantic and North Carolina road 
was begun, and completed in 1857 to Morehead City, on Beaufort har- 
bor, a distance of 97 miles, thus forming a great portion of that long 
chain contemplated by the sagacious and prophetic projector. There 
yet remained the construction of the western links of the chain, from 
Salisbury to Paint Rock on one branch, and to Murphy on another. 
This was completed to a point near Morganton, where further progress 
was stopped by the war. Upon the return of peace, or very soon after, 
work was resumed, and, after many interruptions, financial and others, 
the whole work is now completed — the Paint Rock branch in 1882, and 
the Murphy branch in 1890. And now the State has the satisfaction 
of possessing a well-built, admirably conducted and inexpressibly con- 
venient line of road, extending from the very seashore to the utmost 
limits of its mountain boundaries, and now indissolubly linking in one 
body the whole of its one disunited territory by imperishable links of 
steel. The Slate is now interlaced with railroads, all connected with 
the great main lines of the United States. 



RAILROADS. 



285 



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CANALS AND ARTIFICIAL NAVIGATION. 289 



CANALS AND ARTIFICIAL NAVIGATION. 

While North Carolina appeared to fall behind her sister States in the 
work of internal improvements, facts demonstrate that it was neither 
from lack of intelligence nor energy that this was the case. It was her 
want of money, or rather the scattered and isolated relation her people 
bore to each other, and the difficulty of concentrating purpose or capi- 
tal upon the completion of those measures, the necessity of which was 
early apparent to the statesmanship, the interests and the patriotism of 
her people. We have shown in the sketch of the railroads with what 
avidity the suggestion of that mode of intercommunication was seized 
upon as compensation for the mortification that followed the disappoint- 
ment in the earlier conception of canals and river improvement. That 
this latter system so early engaged the earnest and active energies of 
North Carolina proves the daring, enterprising character of its people — 
proving beyond question that, so far from being in the rear, this State 
was in the front, holding the leadership, to be followed long years after 
by the great State of New York; and proving also the enthusiasm of a 
great people, who had not well counted the cost, and who, in many 
things, had failed because they did not adequately realize the magni- 
tude of their ideas and their own relative poverty. 

In the construction of canals North Carolina claims a proud pre- 
eminence; for, as far back as 1790, was authorized by the Legislature 
of the State the construction of the Dismal Swamp Canal, connecting 
the waters of Pasquotank River (North Carolina) with those of Elizabeth 
River (Virginia). This was required to be done by private subscrip- 
tion, and it was so done; and thus w^as completed the existing Dismal 
Swamp Canal, undertaken thirty-five years before the great Erie Canal 
was completed, and eighteen years before the pioneer canal of New 
England — the Middlesex — was opened for use. This canal served its 
purpose usefully for nearly a century. Recently it has been sold, per- 
haps for other uses, because other means of intercommunication, swifter 
and more capacious, have largely superseded it. 

In addition to this, early steps were taken to improve the navigation 
of several large streams in this State, large volumes of water in their 
lower courses finding entrance into good and convenient harbors, but, 
in their middle courses, interrupted by rocky obstructive ledges, above 
which, in several instances, there w^ere long stretches of natural slack- 
water, W'ith practicable navigation for comparatively long distances. 
These undertakings were made a long time since. Thus the Cape Fear 
Navigation Company, with power to construct canals, received a charter 
to improve the Cape Fear River in 1795; the Roanoke Navigation Com- 
pany and the Neuse River Navigation Companj^ in 1812; the New River, 
the Tar River, the Catawba River and the Cape Fear and Yadkin River 
companies in 1816. 

Upon all these schemes vast sums were spent, and little accomplished. 
Projectors were all disappointed, because, in all instances, the costs far 
19 



290 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

exceeded estimates, and the relative poverty of the people and com- 
munities and the inability to enlist the aid of capital abroad, as was 
subsequently the case in the early days of railroad construction, com- 
pelled the ultimate abandonment of every effort, and left our river-sides 
strewn with the wrecks of labor and fortunes, with here and there some 
partially finished section of work, like the Weldon Canal, to become 
available in after generations as valuable water-power. 

Of late years the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, connecting by a 
cut of a few miles waters in Virginia and North Carolina — the waters 
of Chesapeake Bay with those of Albemarle Sound — gives navigation 
to sea-going vessels and opens up an inland navii^ation from Newbern 
to Norfolk, and, for smaller vessels, through the Clubfoot and Harlow 
Canal, from the waters of Beaufort harbor. 

The following is a statement of what existed ten years ago, and there 
has been little or no change in the condition of our waterways since 
that period : 

"There are eleven hundred miles of inland steamboat navigation in 
North Carolina. Ocean steamers of large burden come into Wihning- 
ton and Beaufort, and the Old Dominion and Clyde lines of coastwise 
steamers come to Newbern, Elizabeth City and Washington via the 
Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. The sounds are navigated by a 
large fleet of light-draft and fast steamboats that furnish abundant 
means of transportation for passengers and freigfit between the numer- 
ous points where they touch. Steamboats run up the Chowan and 
Black Water to Franklin, Va., and up the Meherrin to Murfreesboro; 
up the Roanoke to Halifax; up the Neuse to Kinston ; up the Trent to 
Trenton; up the Cape Fear to Fayetteville; up the Tar to Tarboro; up 
the Scuppernong to Creswell; up the Alligator to Fairfield; up the 
Cashie to Windsor; up the Perquimans River to Belvidere; uj) the 
Little River to Woodville; up the Pasquotank many miles above Eliza- 
beth City; up North River to Indian Township, and up Contentnea and 
Swift Creeks to the head of navigation." 



NEWSPAPERS. 

The following is a list of newspapers published in North Carolina in 
1892: 

Albemarle— Stanly News, weekly. Aslieboro— Courier, weekly. Asheville— Citizen, 
daily and weekly; Mountain Home Journal, weekly; Morning Gazette, daily; Baptist, 
weekly ; Freeman's Advocate (colored) .weekly ; Democrat, weekly ; Temperance Herald, 
weekly; Anchor, monthly; Western North Carolina Methodist, weekly. Bakersville — 
Western Democrat, weekly. Beaufort— Atlantic Seaside, weekly. Boone— Watauga 
Democrat, weekly. Brevard— Hustler, weekly. Bryson City— Times, weekly. Bur- 
law— Burgaw Herald, weekly. Burlington— Burlington News, weekly; Burlington 
Herald, weekly. Carthage— "Carthage Blade, weekly. Cliadhoiu-n— Columbus News, 
weekly. Chapel Hill— University Magazine, monthly. Cliarlotte— Observer, daily 
and weekly; Democrat, weekly;'Times. weekly; News, daily; IMessenger (colored), 
weekly. Clinton— Caucasian, weekly. Concord— Standard, daily and weekly; Times, 
weekly; Piedmont Farmer, weekly; Jlissionary Age, monthly. Danlmry— Reporter- 
Post, weekly. Dunn— Central Tiiaies, weekly.' Durham— Globe, daily and weekly; 
Sun,' daily and weekly; Recorder, weekly; Southern Educator, monthly. Edenton— 



NEWSPAPERS. 291 

Fisherman and Farmer, weekly. Elizabeth City— Economist-Falcon, weekly; News, 
weekly; North Carolinian, weekly. Elkin — Courier, weekly. Elm City — Rural Home, 
weekly. Fayetteville— Observer, weekly; North Carolina Baptist, weekly. Forest 
City — Ledger, weekly. Franklin— The Press, weekly. Gamewell—Rackett, weekly. 
Gastonia — Gazette, weekly. Germanton — Times, weekly. Goldsboro— Argus, daily 
and weekly; Agricultural Bee, weekly; Headlight, weekly; Alliance Sentinel, weekly. 
Graham — Alamance Gleaner, weekly. Greensboro — Record, daih^; Workman, daily; 
Patriot, weekly; Carolina Methodist, weekly; North State, weekly; Royal Knight 
(colored), weekly; College Message, monthly. " Greenville— Eastern Reflector, weekly. 
Guilford College— Collegian, monthly. Henderson — Gold Leaf, weekly. Henderson- 
ville— Hendersonville Times, weekly. Hertford— Perquimans Record, weekly. Hick- 
ory—Press and Carolinian, weekly; Mercury, weekly. Highlands— Star ,"^ weekly. 
High Point — Enterprise, weekly. Hillsboro — Orange County Observer, weekly. 
Kenly — Weekly Visitor, weekly. Kernersville— News, weekly. Kings Mountain — 
News, weekly. Kinston— Free Press, weekly; Rural Home and Sentinel, weekly. 
LaGrange— The Spectator, weekly. Laurinburg— Exchange, weekly. Leaksville— 
Gazette, weekly. Lenoir— Topic, weekly. Lexington— Dispatch, weekly. Lincoln- 
ton— Courier , weekly ; Hearty Worker, monthly. Loviisburg- Franklin Times, weekly. 
Lumberton — Robesonian, weekly. Madison — Leader, weekly; News, weeklj-. Ma- 
rion — Western Free Lance, weekly. Maxton— Maxton Union, weekly. Milton — Mil- 
ton Enterprise, weekly. Mocksville — Davie Times, weekly. Moncure — Alliance Echo, 
weekly. Monroe— Enquirer, weekly. Morganton — Herald, weekly. Mount Airy — 
Yadkin Valley News, weekly. Mount HoUy^Iount Holly News, weekly. INIount 
Olive — Telegram, weekly. Mount Pleasant— College Advocate, monthly. Murfrees- 
boro — Index, weekly. Murphy — Scout, weekly. Newbern — Journal, daily and 
weekly. Newton— Enterprise, weekly; College Visitor, monthh". Oak Ridge'— Oak 
Leaf, monthly. Oxford — Oxford Daj', daily; Public Ledger, weekly; Orphans Friend, 
weekly; Bright Jewels, monthly. Pine Bluff — Home-Seekers' Guide, weekly. Pitts- 
boro — Chatham Record, weekly. Plymouth — Roanoke Beacon, weekly. Potecasi — 
Roanoke Patron, weekly. Raleigh— News and Observer, daily and "weekly: State 
Chronicle, daily and weekly; Evening Visitor, daily; Christian Advocate, weekly; 
Biblical Recorder, weekly; Christian Sun, weekly; Spirit of the Age, weekly; The 
Eclectic, monthly. The Gazette, monthly; North Carolinian, weekly; Progressive 
Farmer, weekly; Signal, weekly; North Carolina Teacher, monthly. Randleman — 
Political Broadax, weekly. Red Springs — Farmer and Scottish Chief, weekly; 
Comet, weekly. Reidsville — Review, weekly; Webster's Weekly, weekh*. Rocking- 
ham — Rocket, weekly ; Spirit of the South, weekly. Rocky Mount — Argonaut, weekly; 
Phoenix, weekly. Roxboro — Person County Courier, weekly; Bulletin, weekly. 
Rutherfordton — Rutherford Times, weekly. Salem — People's Press, Aveeklj^; The 
Academy, monthly. Salisbviry — Carolina Watchman, weekly; Herald, daily and 
weekly; Truth, weekly; News, weekly; Star of Zion (colored), weekly. Sani'ord — 
Central Ex^jress, weekly. Scotland Neck — Democrat, weekly. Shelbj^ — Aurora, 
weekly; Review, weekly. Siler City — Leader, weekljr. Smithtield — Herald, weekly. 
Snow Hill — Free- Will Baptist, weekly. Southern Pines — Development, weekly. 
Southport — Leader, weekly. Sparta —Alleghany Star, weekh^. Statesville — Land- 
mark, weekly; Christian Advocate, weekly. Sylva — Tuckaseegee Democrat, weekly. 
Tarboro— Southerner, daily and weekly; Farmers' Advocate, weekly. Taylorsville— 
Index, weekly. Thomasville — Charity and Children, weekly; Living Issue, weekly. 
Trinity College — Country Life, weekly; Archive, monthly. Troy — Montgomery 
Vidette, weekly. Wadesboro— Messenger-Intelligencer, weekly. Wake Forest — Wake 
Forest Student, monthly. Walnut Cove — Advance, weekly. Warrenton — Gazette, 
weekly. Washington — Gazette, weekly; Progress, weekly, Waynesville — Courier, 
weekly. Webster— Herald, weekly. Whitakers — The Rattler, weekly. Weldon — 
Roanoke News, weekly; Railroad Ticket, daily. Wilkesboro— Chronicle, daily. North 
Wilkesboro — News, weekly. Wilmington — Messenger, daily and weekly: Star, daily 
and weekly; Review, daily; North Carolina Presbj^terian, weekly; North Carolina 
Medical Journal, monthly; Africo-American Presbyterian (colored;, monthly; Atlan- 
tic Methodist, weekly. Wilson — Advance, weekly; Mirror, weekly; Zion's Landmark, 
weekly. Windsor — Ledger, weekly. Winston — Twin City Sentinel, daily and weekly; 
Southern Tobacco Journal, weeklj-; LTnion Republican, weekly. Yancey ville—Cas- 
Avell News, Aveekly. Dailies and weeklies, 24; weeklies, 153; monthlies, 18; total, 194. 

The above list is taken from the last Report of the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (for 1892), with such corrections as have become necessary by 
additions and suspensions, and is as nearly accurate as the means of 
information will permit. 



292 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



BUILDING STONES. 

In all sections of the State are found in greater or less excellence, 
and with wider or more limited diffusion, excellent stones for building 
material, sandstone, granite, limestone and marble. Only in recent 
3'ears, owing to difficulty of transportation, have quarries been opened 
to the extent of giving sufficient tests of the value and beauty of the 
varied materials as to authorize the enlistment of capital and the intro- 
duction of efficient and economical machinery. Now much material, 
the value of which was known, but whose use was costly and incon- 
venient, is coming into use, and some quarries have deservedly gained 
high repute far beyond the limits of the State. 

A review of some of the different stores of valuable building material 
in different parts of the State will be attempted, without effort to clothe 
the statement in scientific or technical terms. 

The granites are named first, because that stone was first conspicu- 
ously called into notice in North Carolina by the construction of the 
State Capitol at Raleigh. This is built of the light-gray gneissic granite 
of the Laurentian formation, a fine quarr}' of which was opened for the 
use of Capitol construction on the south-east border of the City of 
Rileigh. Feldspar is a prominent ingredient in this stone, but it does 
not appear to impair its durability — the Capitol, after fifty years of 
existence, suffering apparently nothing by weathei'ing. It might have 
been observed in the operation of this quarry that the increase in depth 
disclosed a finer, harder stone, with smaller admixture of feldspar, a 
stone of pleasing bluish-gray and capable of high polish; and, without 
doubt, far the most valuable as well as most beautiful contents of the 
quarr}'' remain untouched. 

Other quarries have been opened near Raleigh, and that on the Peni- 
tentiary grounds, and freely used in the construction of that building 
and its massive enclosing walls, furnished abundantly a most durable 
and beautiful stone. 

In Granville County, at the Henderson Quarry, is a quarry of a harder 
and darker granite, the material of which is much used for building, 
and is preferred to most others as peculiarly suited for Belgian paving 
blocks. 

In Wilson County, near the town of Wilson, and convenient to the 
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, is a quarry of granite similar to 
the famous Scotch granite, with a reddish tint, hard, taking a fine 
polish, and suitable for monumental purposes. 

In Alamance County, not far from Graham station, is a quarry of 
fine dark-gray granite, which also takes a high polish, and suitable for 
many valuable purposes. 

Near Mount Airy, in Surry County, tljcre is a wonderful outcrop of 
light-gray granite, occupying an exposed surface of many acres, and 
now the scene of very active and extensive operations ; the material 
being largel}' used for building bridge piers and abutments, and for 
paving. 



BUILDING STONES. 293 

Ne.ir Kernersville is also a quarry of granite — gray, hard and of fine 
texture, taking a fine {)olish, sjnd much used in monumental work. 

Among the most remarkable granite formations in the IState is that 
at Dunn's Mountain, four miles south-east of Salisbury. Tliis is a feld- 
spathic stone, almost white, and, except for occasional small nodules of 
iron pyrites, free from any substance to impair the homogeneou?ness of 
texture or color. It forms a fine building stone, illustrated with fine 
effect in the Government building at Raleigh, so white and fine in 
color as, at a short distance, to present the appearance of marble. The 
whole of Dunn's Mountain, several hundred acres in extent, constitutes 
an exhaustless quarry, which, in the future, promises fame and fortune 
to those who own it. 

Near Mooresville, in Iredell County, is found extensively a grani e of 
remarkably fine quality. It is of a tender bluish-gray, to the eye pre- 
senting softness of texture as well as softness of tint, yet, in fact, a hard, 
durable stone, taking a very high polish, superior as a building stone, 
and for monumental purpos>rs without a superior. A fine illustration 
of its value and fitness for this use is found in the characteri--tic monu- 
ment erected to the memory of the late \V. C. Kerr, former State Geolo- 
gist, standing in the City Cemetery at Raleigh. 

A very remarkable and also beautiful and valuable variety of grnnite 
is found in Anson County on .Jones Creek. It is nearly black, with a 
bronze olivaceous tint, takes a beautiful [)olish, and is adapted to rare 
ornamental uses. 

Three and a half miles south-west of Rockingham, on the Carolina 
Central Railroad, is found a beautiful gray porphyritic granite, with 
large pinkish crystals of feldspar, including a small amount of pyrites. 
Large boulders and ledges of this stone ate found over considerable 
area on the hill-side, both above and below the railroad. One mile and 
a half west of this place is found a much finer grained dark hornblend 
granite. No quarrying has been done in either of these places, except 
for railroad purposes. 

The prevalence of granite east of the Blue Ridge is a marked feature 
in the distribution of the rocks, and it would be idle to note the numer- 
ous ppints at which it may be found. It is more sparingly distributed 
west of the Ridge, and there the general character is somewhat inferior. 
One of the largest formations is in Henderson County, at Flat Rock, 
where naked ledges of a gneissoid granite present themselves so con- 
spicuously as to give name to the locality. This stone is largely used 
in building, and," from the facility with which it is split and divided, is 
used freely in Hendersonville for the construction of houses, and Jtpplied 
with the facility and convenience with which brick are laid. In other 
parts of Henderson County, and in a few localities in ]>uucombe, there 
are granite quarries, but ttiis stone is not characteristic of the trans- 
montane section. 

SANDSTONE. 

In the long trough which marks the former existence of a sea-basin, 
extending from a point a little to the west of Oxford, south-westwardly 
through the intervening counties to the South Carolina boundary, and 



294 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

beyond, is a profusion of sandstone suitable for building purposes, and 
which is reached and utilized in several places by the opening of quar- 
ries. Mr. George B. Ilanna, of the State Geological Survey, has fur- 
nished the following information of some of the work done: 

In Anson County is the Wadesboro Biownstone Quarry, one mile north of Wades- 
boro, on tlie Carolina Central Railroad. The stone is quite hard and uniform, of a 
light chocolate-bi'own to a graj'ish-brown color, and of fine to medium texture, the 
lighter colors being usually coarser. The quarry was opened in 1887, and was worked 
until June, 1891. The f|uarry face is about 150 feet long by 30 feet high, though much 
of this face and the material which has been quarried is worthless cap-rock and soil. 
The cap varies in thickness from .. to 15 feet. Quarrying is very much facilitated 
by natural .joijitings and bedding, and blocks 8x8x8, and smaller, are easily obtained. 
From 40,000 to 50.000 feet of stone have been quarried. The stone dips 8. E. 20°, and 
the quarry faces almost due west. All stone was sawed either at the quarry or shipped 
rough; dimension stone, 75 cents per foot; sawed two ways, $1; four ways, SI. 25. It 
was used principally for trimming brick buildings. Specimens of it may be seen from 
Atlanta to Baltimore, notably the United States Court-houses and Post-offices at Wil- 
mington, Asheville and Statesville, N. C, the Young Men's Christian Association 
buildings at Charlotte and Atlanta, the Garrett School building at Baltimore, and the 
Baptist Church at Wadesboro. A steam-pump was constantly employed to drain the 
quarry, and in rainy weather work would sometimes be suspended for a month on 
accoimt of flooding. The machinery connected with the quarry consists of tvro boilers, 
an engine of about fifty horse-power, five gangs of saws, steam-drill, one steam-power 
derrick of fourteen tons capacity, and two horse-power derricks. The full force 
employed was about sixt^^ workmen. 

There is, as indicated above, a temporary suspension of work, due 
probably to reorganization of the company operating it, but the quarry 
is inexhaustible, and the demand for its products not likely to suffer 
diminution. 

The " E. Linehan Quarry'' is about a quarter of a mile from the above, on the 
Carolina Central Railroad. The stone is practically the same, Avith about the same 
advantages and disadvantages in quarrying. The quarry face is about 20 feet high 
and 300 feet long. The stone is dressed by hand at the quarry, and shipped rough. 

In Chatham Countj' is the Egypt Coal Company's quarrj", on the proposed exten- 
sion of the Egypt Railroad. The output is a compact fine reddish-brown sandstone, 
in a blufi' from 30 to 40 feet high, on the east bank of Deep River, and was worked a 
little in the fall of 1889—3.000 to 4.000 feet having been ((uarried. Some of this stone 
shows slight lamination, though the texture is usually (piite uniform. The cap is not 
over 10 feet thick, including the overlying soil. This blutf extends down the river 
about half a mile. 

In Moore County is the Rockle and Laurence Quarry, a quarter of a mile south- 
west of Sanford, and a ([uarter of a mile from the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line 
Railroad. The material is a rather soft reddish-brown fine-grained sandstone. The 
quarry was opened in the spring of 1890, and worked until the sjning of 1892. About 
25,000 cubic feet have been taken out. The color is quite uniform, but the texture is 
rather variable, frequently running into fine conglomerate, sometimes containing a 
good deal of cla\'. It is used for house trimming and ornamental work, and may be 
seen in the City Hall of Charlotte, the Court-house and Post-otfice at Greenville. S. C, 
and other buildings in Atlanta, Danville, Norfolk and Washington City. All the 
stone was dressed at the quarry and hauled to the railroad at Sanford. The strii)ping 
does not exceed three or four feet, and there is i)ractically no cap-stone. A steam- 
pump was necessary to drain the quarry. Hoisting and drilling was also done by 
steam-power, but ail dressing was done by hand. The full working force was sixty 
men. including stone-dressers. 

The Carolina Brownstone Quarry, one mile north-west of Sanford, on the Cape 
Fear and Yadkin \'allev Railroad, was o])ened at the present workings in February, 
1892, and about 25.000 feet of stone have been taken out. The stone is a tolerably 
uniform fine compact grayish-brown sandstone, and is used for house trinunings. It 
has been applied in Saint I^ike's Churcii, Norfolk, and in tlie Court-house at Bristol, 
Tenn. The capacity is from eight to ten car-loads ]»'Y week. The cap-stone' is from 
two to four feet thick, under about six feet of .soil. Tlie quanw is drained naturally. 
Hand-drills and horse-power derricks are used, and only dimension stone is (juarried. 



BUILDING STONES. 295 

A remarkably promising sandstone quarry lias been located on 
McLendon's Creek, four miles south-west of Carthage, and a company 
with large capital has been organized to work it. The formation pos- 
sesses peculiar advantages for working it, the outcrop being a large 
rising on the side of the valley of the creek, so that the stone is accessi- 
ble without under-ground work, and the drainage is natural. Until a 
railroad is extended from Carthage to the quarry only preparatory 
work will be done. 

In Durham County small quantities of sandstone for local use have been quarried 
in three places in the vicinity of Durham: 1st. A rather coarse graystone in a low- 
bluff about a mile south-east of Durham. 2(1. A uniform fine brownstone about one 
mile east. Both of these are about a mile from railroads, and the product was hauled 
away in wagons when worked. 3d. Dukes Quarry, at the junction of the belt line 
with the Lynchburg and Durham Railroad. This is mostly a finely laminated reddish 
brownstone, in a considerable hill beside the railroad. 

Rather coarse gray sandstone, such as was used in the Unirersity, is found about 
two miles east of Chapel Hill. 

Near Brasfields, five miles east of Durham, is found a sandstone of 
pleasing reddish-gray, the material from which may be seen in the 
bell-tower of Christ Church, Raleigh, the whole of which is built of 
this stone. This c^uarry is not now worked, though by no means 
exhausted. 

MARBLE. 

The finer stones under this name are not found of much value or in 
considerable quantity, except in the western section, where they begin 
to occur in the deep gorge of the Nantahala River, where they present 
themselves on the south faces of the mountains, which, on the north 
side of the river, start in the narrow valley. Professor Kerr classes 
these marbles under the name of limestone, which, in truth, they are, 
but of a valuable and peculiarly beautiful kind — hard, close-grained, 
uniform in texture, taking high polish and displa3'ing varied and beau- 
tiful coloring — white, black, rose-colored, salmon, and variegated — 
affording fine material for ornamental and architectural uses. The 
C[uantity seems exhaustless, and as access to transportation is now easy, 
the quarries now being opened promise to be largely worked. These 
are now operated by a Georgia company, with headquarters at Atlanta, 
and the finished work is put on the market as " Georgia marble," while 
its true origin is indicated by the peculiar and various coloring. Red 
Marble Gap, the crossing on the railroad from Macon into Cherokee, 
takes its name from the deep-colored marble which flanks the railroad 
track along portions of its course. 

Entering Cherokee, and descending Valley River, marble of varie- 
gated hues presents itself at several points. Near Andrews, on the 
railroad, a seam of richly-colored dark stone is exposed in the bed of 
the river, a polished specimen of which is placed in the State Geological 
Museum. Near Murphy, pure white marble of a somewhat coarser 
texture presents itself, and in large quantities, and possesses high value 
as building stone, and perhaps also for monumental purposes, the stone 
taking a good polish. 



296 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Limestone, which cannot be classed as a building stone, is s mewhat 
sparingl}' distributed through the State. It occurs as magnesian lime- 
stone in the counties of Forsyth, Yadkin and Stokes. Crystalline lime- 
stone is found in Gaston County, and carbonate of lime, making a good 
lime, is found in portions of Buncombe and Henderson Counties, and 
in a very marked though somewhat narrow outcrop in Madison County, 
a short distance below the Hot Springs. 

That part of the eastern section of the State lying south of the Xeuse 
River and along Trent River, abounds in sliell limestone, very suitable 
as a building stone. It is readily quarried in large masses, and rapidly 
becomes hard on exposure to the air, and is very durable. For massive 
architecture it is very suitable. The only large application of it seems 
to have been in the enclosure of the City Cemetery at Xewbern, and 
the fine archways over the chief entrance displays the character of the 
stone to fine advantage. 

SLATE. 

At Mr. Robert Berns', three miles north-west of Egypt, on the Pitts- 
boro road, a blue compact clay slate is found, which splits well on sur- 
face exposure. Pieces eighteen inches square, and thin enough for 
roofing, have been split out within one foot of the surface. No work 
has bet^n done hei'e Slate of the same nature is found three miles west 
of Goldston, at Mr. Hugh AVomble's. ( )n Rocky River, four miles 
above its mouth, a hard. blue silicious slate is found, which splits well 
on outcrop. It has not been quarried. 



GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA, 1892. 

THE AURIFEROUS AREA OF NORTH OAROLINA EMBRACES 
NEARLY ONE-HALF OF THE STATE. 



MODES OF OCCURRENCE OF THE GOLD.— 1st. Ix "Gravel"' ox the Bed- 
rock OR IN Old Channels, where it has Been Concentrated. 2d. In the 
Mass of the Original Rock. 3d. In the Schists Forming Bedded Veins. 
4th. In Quartz Veins. 

The entire surface of the country has long been subject to weathering 
agencies to a great depth, and the auriferous bodies have shared in these 
changes. Nearly or Cjuite to the depth of these alterations the gold is 
in a "free" condition and easily savable. Deeper than this the ores 
are only partly changed, and the associations of the gold are such as 
to demand skilled treatment and costly appliances. The gold is not 
uniformly distributed in the ore bodies, for both beds and veins have 
"chimneys," or "shoots," in which the gold is concentrated, leaving the 
intermediate parts relatively poor. The auriferous schists are some- 
times hundreds of feet thick, and in such dases the term "auriferous" 
is only the convenient way of discriminating the workable from the 
non-workable. 




rABLE ROCK AND HAWK'S BILL. 



GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 297 

For the geology of the State the reader is referred to the Geological 
Reports already published, and to bulletins soon to be issued. This 
subject may be dismissed here in the following brief statement: Three 
general geological systems are easily dis3riminated (the two lowermost 
are probably Archean), viz., the Lower Laurentian and the Tpper Lau- 
rentian, and the Huroniau. The first-named is prominent in the 
Greensboro and Charlotte granite belt, which is from five to thirty-five 
miles in width. Veins of gold-bearing iron and copper pyrites are 
numerous along the eastern half of the belt, and in the southern part. 
These varj'' from a few inches to sixty feet in width. The ores are 
refractory only as the sulphurets make them so. Westward of this 
axial area, and stretching westward to Tennessee, is a body classed as 
Upper Laurentian. Its rocks are gneissoid to slaty in structure. The 
veins, especially in the western part, are generally narrow, though 
numerous, and not infrequently rich. The third geological formation 
is to the eastward of the central belt, viz , the Huronian. It is a region 
of quartzites and "slates," and is fifteen to forty-five miles wide. The 
mineral resources of this middle body of slates and schists is very great, 
in iron as well as in gold. In the latter it has hardly a rival in the 
entire Appalachian region. In the western edge of this belt, adjacent 
to its junction with the Lower Laurentian, is a stretch of auriferous 
copper, lead and p3^rite mines, which have been worked more deeply 
and extensively than any other in the State. 

WARREN, FRANKLIN AND NASH COUNTIES. 

The extreme north-east deposits occur in these counties, and cover an 
area of more than two hundred square miles. The important points 
in this area are: The Thomas Mine, one mile and a half north-east 
from Ransom's Bridge. The Portis Mine is in the north-east corner of 
Franklin County. Tnis mining tract embraces 938 acrt s Both hydrau- 
lic and vein work is carried on. This work is largely automatic, and 
the outla}' for the plant is not excessive. The cost of treatment is sur- 
prisingly low. The Mann-Arrington Mine at Argo has a fine record. 
The placer washings still yield many fine nugg^^ts. At the 100 foot 
level there is a body of ore three feet wide. At the Conyers Mine, seven 
miles from Whitaker's, there is an eighteen-inch vein of brown ore and 
sulphurets, and a large quantity of "pay gravel." Near Springhope, 
on the Tar River, considerable surface washing is carried on. The 
Woodward-Hedgepeth tract, two miles from Nashville, has a large area 
of gravel, and lately a very strong vein three feet wide has been opened 
up. Other mines in this district are the Kearney, Taylor, Davis, Nick 
Arrington, and Harrison. The aggregate of the regular employees is 
seventy five. 

MOORE COUNTY. 

The Huronian in Moore County has two belts — one ten miles north- 
west from Carthage, and the other eighteen. The Bell Mine is the only 
one worked in the former. Here occur rich quartz seams, assaving 
from $80 to $1,300 per ton, and strict averages of large working bodies 
run $14 per ton. The Johnson Mine is to the smtti-west of the Bell. 



298 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Six miles north-east of the Bell is a large body of gold and silver boar- 
ing copper ore, and two and one-half miles norih-east of the Chick is 
a body quite similar — the Phillips. 

The second belt comprises a dozen well-known mines in a space three 
or four miles wide and six or eight miles long from north-east to south- 
west. The formation is everywhere very silicious. The veins are " bed- 
ded veins/" and are merely the richer parts of the auriferous strata. The 
Brown Mine, on the north-west edge of the district, has been worked 
for a distance of 300 yards, and to a depth of fifty or sixty feet. The 
Bat Roost and the Shields, near by, have also been largely worked. 
The Cagle Mine, one mile south of the Shields, and on the east edge of 
the belt, has 500 acres. The ore has a very small amount of dissemi- 
nated pyrite, and assays from §5.33 to $39.88 per ton. Unlike most of 
the mines of this belt, the work is wholly underground. The Clegg 
Mine, one-fourth of a mile west, is made up of the same schists, and is 
w^orked by open cuts The Morrell Mine is one-fourth of a mile south- 
west. The Burns and Aired Mine, one-half mile south of the Cagle, 
is perhaps the best example of this class of ore deposits. The forma- 
tion is the familiar one of the district. The selection of places for 
exploitation is determined by practical tests. Large bodies of the ore 
will run from S3 to $5 per ton. Most of the work is done "open cut." 
The Kendall and the Monroe are near by. 

The mines of Moore County are, with few exceptions, massive bodies 
of low-grade ores, with a thin dissemination of sulphurets. To modest 
operations, with a cheap plant, many of these mines have been remu- 
nerative. 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 

In Montgomery County also the Huronian formation prevails, but 
the silicious schists give place to clay slates toward the middle of the 
county. The vein mines have been very prominent in the history of 
the State, but the gravel mines are less known. 

There are three belts of auriferous territory in this county. The 
most easterly range embraces the Moore Mine on the north-east, the 
Keynolds, the Carter (near Troy), and the Sam. Christian and Swift 
Creek to the south-west. The Sam. Christian has gained a wide repu- 
tation as a jtroducer of large and fine nuggets. The gold is found in 
old "channels," in gravel, deeply covered with soil, and rarely occurs 
as "dust," but generally as nuggets, weighing from five to more than a 
thousand pennyweights. The work is almost exclusively hydraulic. 

The second and parallel belt is four to six miles north-west, and com- 
prises a line of "gravel" mines on the north-west of the Uwharrie 
Mountains, and between it and the Uwharrie River. The better-known 
localities are the Bright, Ophir (or Davis), Spanish Oak Gap, Dry Hol- 
low, Island Creek, Deep Flat, Pear Tree Hill, Tom's Creek, Harbin's, 
Bunnell Mountain, Dutchman's Creek, and the Worth Mines, the latter 
being near the junction of the Uwharrie and the Yadkin. These prop- 
erties have never been adequately worked, as the water-supply is entirely 
inadaquate. Some of them have large bodies of ores. The Tebe Saun- 
ders Mine is near the Worth. It was discovered bv accident in 1889. 






GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 299 

Several stringers were exposed which contained gold in abundance, 
and work proceeded for some time with great vigor, till the exhaustion 
of the pocket left only vein matter of ordinary value. 

The third belt is a little further to the north-west. The more promi- 
nent mines of this belt are the Steele (or Genesee), Saunders, Henderson, 
Ap[)alachian, Morris Mountain, Russell, Little Russell, McLean's Creek, 
and Beaver Dam. The first three named carry largely argentiferous or 
auriferous galena. The Appalachian, Morris Mountain and both the 
Russells are bedded ore masses. The last two on the list are gravel 
mines. The Steele (or Genesee) Mine is on the east side of the Uwhar- 
rie, and about two miles south of Eldorado village. The schists here 
are very quartzitic. The ore deposits vary from twelve to twenty feet 
in thickness. The most valuable part of this deposit consists of narrow 
"string veins," in which the gold occurs in relatively large quantity. 
The associated mineral matter is galenite, blende, chalcopyrite and 
pyrite. The "string veins" are sometimes fabulously rich, while the 
concentrated pyrites form a material of respectable value, but very 
refractory. The Saunders is the north-east extension of the Steele. 

The Russell Mine is located in the north-west corner of Montgomery 
County. It has been worked very extensively, and has allowed better 
opportunities for study than any other, and hence will serve as a type 
of several mines in this region. The schists are the familiar silicious 
talcose or chloritic schists of the section, and contain in the ore channels 
from two to four per cent, of disseminated pyrites. There is no appear- 
ance of a fissure vein at this mine. The entire formation is gold-bear- 
ing, but only certain strata contain it in quantities large enough to 
warrant work. The gold-bearing material is of low grade, assaying, as 
ordinary material, $2.27 to §9.95 per ton. The auriferous territory is 
fully 2,000 feet across the formation from north-west to south-east. 
The Morris Mountain Mine, a tract of 350 acres, is in this neighborhood. 

The Appalachian (or Coggins) Mine is one mile south of the Russell. 
The schists resemble those of the Russell. The mine, as far as devel- 
oped, shows large bodies of low-grade ores, similar to those of the Rus- 
sell, yet ores that are easily within the limits of profitable work. 

The Beaver Dam Mine at Flaggtown contains 800 acres, one-half of 
which is claimed to be underlaid by gravel. There are numerous 
seams of auriferous quartz, and a massive body of chloritic schists, 
carrying gold. The work has been done by hydraulic methods. 

RANDOLPH COUNTY. 

Randolph County, like Montgomery County, abounds in mines, and 
not less than thirt}' are well known. Of these the more noted are the 
Sawyer, Winslow, Lafflin (or Herring), Jones (or Keystone), Davis 
Mountain, Winningham, Slack, Graves, and Hoover Hill. All these 
mines are in the "slate," and the belts are probably continuous with 
the western ones of Montgomery. 

The Jones (or Keystone), the Lafflin (or Herring), and the Delft, are 
quite similar in character, and a description of the Jones will indicate 
the characteristics of the others. It has been very largely worked. 



300 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

This mining tract has 293^ acuv s, and is twelve miles nearly south-east 
from Thomasville. The schisis are soft and weathered to a great depth, 
n'hich has brought about a peroxidation of the ferruginous constituents, 
(xold is universally present, but the mining is contined to cert^nn richer 
belts. Occasional masses are charged with finely disseminated iron 
pyrite, slightly altered. The working st^a'a differs little from the 
unworkable. Two of these belts have gained especial prominence, one 
being 50 feet wide, and the other 110 lett. The mine is simply a series 
of ore quarries, and is worked "open cut" as a Cjuarry. The disinte- 
graied condition of the rock or soil allows of mining at a marvellously 
cheap rate, frequently not exceeding fifteen cents per ton of ore deliv- 
ered at the mill-house. The material is low grade, but it changes per- 
petually in its contents, and bodies of relatively high grade may be 
met at any time. Assam's give $2.07 to $28.94 per ton. Strict averages 
of large bodies give fairly uniform assays, so that it may be said with 
fairness that the average of working bodies will not fall under 83 per 
ton. The treatment is by stamp battery, but hydraulic methods might 
also be pursued if a cheap supply of water were available. 

The Parrish Mine adjoins the Jones. The ore body is hornblendic 
and chloritic, and sometimes very rich, assaying from $14.90 to $88 50. 

The Hoover Hill Mine is located seventeen miles nearly south from 
High Point, and comprises 250 acres. In its early days opf-rations were 
very profitable. The "county" is apparently an altered schist, very 
hard and compact, traversed by belts abounding in quartz seams, and, 
both above and be ow, these belts have been the productive part. The 
old "Bri'ds Shoot" was the most productive, and is now down 350 feet. 
The gold is uniformly associated with the quartz seams. Iron pyrite 
is generally present to the extent of three per cent. The Wilson Kindley 
Mine is one-half mile south-west. 

It will easily be seen from the above brief description of Montgomery 
and Randolph Counties that the extent of the auriferous wealth is 
beyond our present power to estimate. Probably no other equal area 
of the State has anything to compare with it. 

The solution of the problem of putting these vast and unique stores 
of gold into the channels of commerce lies, if a conjecture may be haz- 
arded, not so much in the introduction of any new "process," which 
will supersede amalgamation, as in the cheapening and perfecting the 
art of mining, and in the increased efficiency of the modes of amalga- 
mation, with chlorination as an auxiliary, following a well-devised 
system of concentration. 

STANLY COUNTY. 

In Stanly County the more noted mines are the Haithcock and 
Hearne, two miles north-west fi^om Albemarle. The Haithcock is the 
northern extent-ion of the Hearne, and itself merges to the north-east 
into the Lauder. 

The Parker Mine, at New London, embraces four mining tracts, 
aggregating 827J acres, and is in the midst of a very imi)ortant mining 
district. There are three well-known veins on this tract, and large 



GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 301 

areas of valuable "gravel," which is not only diffused generally over 
the surface, but is largely concentrated in the beds of the various 
streams running through the properties. This gravel contains from 
eleven to nineteen cents to the cubic yard, and the quartz and vein 
matter assays from S4.23 to $7.38 per Ion. 

Part of the Gold Hill District is in Stanl}' County. 

UNION COUNTY. 

The mines of Union County are readily traceable in alignment with 
Gold Hill, Silver Hill and other mines of Davidson County, and are 
for the most part comprised in this belt, which stretches in close prox- 
imity to the "granite area" along its easlern edge. This belt com- 
mences about the middle of the eastern boundary of Davidson County, 
and extends seventy-five miles south-westwardly to South Carolina, and 
most of this stretch from Gold Hill southwardly is, with scarcely a 
break, crowded with mines. The ores are readily classified into aurif- 
erous and argentiferous galena, auriferous pyrite, and auriferous slates 
with disseminated sulphurets. 

The Washington Mine, eight miles south-west from Monroe, is the 
most southerly of the important mines of the county. The Wyatt is 
one-fourth mile west of the Washington, and is probably part of the 
S'-nne vein. The Howie is one mile and a quarter north-west of the 
Washington, and has been worked to a depth of 300 feet. The ore is 
quite like that of the Washington, and has numerous seams of 
quartz, which is generally associated with the richer ores. The 
yield of this mine has been estimated at $750,000. The vein is 400 
feet wide. The working ores assa}^ from §2.05 to $43.06 per ton. 
Between the Howie and the Davis, two and a half miles north-east, are 
no known mines. Then occurs the Davis, Phifer, Lewis and Hemby 
nearly in the same alignment — a stretch of nearly two miles The 
whole deposit has been enormously rich, especially the Phifer. In this 
immediate neighborhood are the Moore Plill, Harkness and Folger Hill. 
One-half mile north-east of the Hemby is the Smart, which carries 
galenite; and one mile and a half still further north-east is the Black, 
with ores assaying $10.68 to $108.31 per ton. The Crump Mine, four 
miles from Stout's Station, is noted for its remarkable pockets of splen- 
did nuggets. North-east of the Hemby are several important localities 
which have been successfully worked — the Long, Henry Phifer, Crowell 
(Bright Light), Fox Hill, Secrest, Dulin, Moore, Stewart, Lemmons and 
others. The last three have galenite. 

The Stewart is toward the northern part of Union Count}'. It has 
been worked, and has yielded rich ores. The assays run from S14.01 
to $48.89. The belt soon passes into Cabarrus County. 

CABARRUS COUNTY. 

The Rocky River Mine is ten miles south-east from Concord, and 
includes two mines with seven veins, carrying quartz, iron pyrites, and 
galenite ranging from S5.97 to $67.42 per ton. The Allen Furr Mine, 
two and a half miles distant, shows a large amount of massive iron 
pyrite, with a little galena. 



302 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The Reed Mine is near the Rocky River Mine. This mine was the 
first to give celebrity to the gold fields of the Appalachian range. The 
first nugget was found in 1799, and the largest recorded nugget (weigh- 
ing twenty-eight pounds avoirdupois) in 1803; and for a period of fort}- 
years thereafter a steady stream of nuggets poured forth from this place. 
The proportion of nuggets, both for number and for size, has never been 
paralleled on this side of the continent. There are also several veins 
on this tract of 780 acres. 

The Phfcnix Mine, eight miles south-east from Concord, had reached 
a depth of nearly 400 feet, when the growing difficulties of working it 
led to its abandonment. The Thies chlorination method was developed 
here and used successfully for several years in connection with the ordi- 
nary mill treatment, and resulted in the economical extraction of gold 
to a high percentage (90 to 95 per cent). The whole establishment was 
a model of skilful and successful adaption of familiar methods. Assavs, 
$8.27 to $63 01 per ton. 

The Joel Reed Mine, in tlie edge of Concord, has been worked suc- 
cessfully on a small scale for a long time. The Allison and the Mont- 
gomery mines, two miles north of Concord, have been profitably 
operated. 

The McMakin Mine (or Silver Vein), in the Gold Hill District, had 
reached a depth of 181 feet, when the war caused a suspension of work. 
The ore is complex — blende, galena, pyrites and highly argentiferous 
tetrahedrite. Assays run from 12 to 500 ounces of silver per ton. 

This Gold Hill District is the most noted as well as the most produc- 
tive in the State. It is situated in the south-eastern part of RoAvan 
County and the north-eastern corner of Cabarrus, and overlaps slightly 
into Stanly. It is nearly one mile and a half long from north-east to 
south-west, and two-thirds of a mile wide. The striking characteristics 
of this district are the great permanency of the viens and the variety 
and richness of the ores. The entire series is situated on the narrow 
plateau of a low-lying north-east and south-west ridge, and is one mile 
east of the granite, and in close contact with a diorite group to the 
east. The prevailing rock is a chloritic argillaceous schist. There are 
at least ten well-defined veins in the district, prominent among which 
are the Randolph, Hunnicutt, Earnhardt, Open Cut, Trautman, and 
McMakin, but closely associated are outlying bodies, which may be 
independent veins. 

The Randolph vein, nearly the extreme north-west mine of the group, 
is par excellence the Gold Hill Mine, and has been worked a linear dis- 
tance of 1,500 feet, and to a depth of 740 feet. There are three prin- 
cipal shoots of ore which have been exceedingly rich, but in the lowest 
levels they have become of lower grade, though still abundant. 

The Earnhardt, 400 feet to the east of the Randolph, is worked to a 
less depth. The ores are like those of the Randoljih. The Standard 
Vein has been worked to a depth of 84 feet. The body of ore is com- 
paratively wide. The Trautman gold vein was worked to the depth 
of 24 feet as a gold mine, but below this level and down to GO feet a 
variety of lead minerals occurred. This vein is nearly at the extreme 
south-east of the group. 






GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 303 

DAVIDSON COUNTY. 

Very little mining work is now done in this count}', and only the 
more important mines will be briefly alluded to. 

Tlie Lalor (Allen) and Eureka are at Thomasville. 

The Conrad Hill is seven miles east of Lexington, with seven veins, 
of which six have been worked, ranging from two to fifteen feet in 
width. The vein matter is quartz, chalcopyrite, with various copper 
minerals, resulting from decompo.sition. Carbonate of iron is a com- 
mon accom})animent, but, excepting the latter, the mine matter is 
remarkably destitute of all distinctive iron minerals. The operations 
looked to a final production of gold bullion and refined ingot copper. 
The general course of metallurgical treatment was as follows : The 
mine matter, after the usual cobbing, etc., was picked and the richer 
ore sent to the copper works. The residues, after passing through a 
Blake crusher, were jigged, and the best material added to the above 
richer material. The poorest stuff from the jigs was rejected, and the 
medium grade sent at once to the stamp-mill and amalgamated as 
usual. The taiHngs were concentrated and the concents sent to the 
copper works. The material rich in copper was, after roasting, smelted 
in a shaft furnace for matte, from which, after resmelting, etc., a black 
copper was obtained and refined. The Hunt & Douglas process was 
found to be more efficient than smelting, and was largely used. The 
residues from the tanks, now mostly peroxidized, were sent to the bat- 
tery for amalgamation. The greatest depth reached was 400 feet. The 
assays run from $13.39 to $94.12, and from a trace to 30 per cent, of 
copper. 

The Silver Valley Mine is twelve miles south-east from Lexington. 
The vein is from five to twelve feet wide. The ore is galenite with 
blende, the latter sometimes predominating. This large per cent, of 
zinc has hitherto been the only difficulty in the way of an extensive 
employment of the resources of this mine; and the variety of experi- 
ments, both mechanical and metallurgical, which have been directed 
to the problem of treatment, have at best only partly ameliorated the 
status, as is shown in the following analyses of the concents: 

Fow Concents. Mich Concents. 

Gold, per ton - $4.13 S 4.13 

Silver, per ton 9. 58 38. 06 

$13.71 $43.19 

Lead, per cent 11.18 "TTeS 

Zinc, percent 27.70 12.68 

The raw ore contains — 

Gold, per ton trace $ 4.18 trace 

Silver, per ton $13.30 150.15 S32.45 

$13 80 $154.28 $32.45 

Lead, percent . 15.89 55~25 38 80 

Zinc, per cent-... 31.45 11.24 32. 

More recently the ore has been used for a mixing ore at the smelting 
works at Thomasville. 



304 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The Silver Hill Mine is ten miles south-east of Lexington. It was 
originally known as the Washington. Here are two nearly parallel 
veins, with some large but subordmate bodies. At the commencement 
the vein was supposed to be a gold vein, but at the depth of eighty feet 
it was found that the vein was lead-bearing silver ore, with gold as an 
incidental. Ultimately the ore was found to contain argentiferous 
blende and galenite. Analyses show for the compact galena — 

Gold, per ton $4.14 $6 20 S4.13 

Silver, per ton 2.75 9.17 9.55 

S6.89 $15.37 §13.68 

Lead, per cent. 2--J.94 56.73 12.57 

Zinc, percent .-- 7.14 34.29 

After a great variety of futile efforts to treat this ore, the work was 
abandoned. This mine has been worked to the depth of 725 feet. The 
latest exploitation of this mine was in the shallow parts, where a con- 
siderable body of "carbonates'' was uncovered, which proved of fair 
grade as to silver contents. The difiBculty of treating this ore, as in 
the case of the Silver Valley ores, is so great as to preclude it from 
general metallurgical purposes. 

On the Ward property, two miles east of Silver A^alley, are four 
nearly parallel veins, and a large amount of surface suitable for 
hydraulic treatment. 

"^The Welborn, two miles west of Silver Hill, carries ores greatly 
resembling those from the latter mine. The Symous Mine, near by, 
has good brown ore. 

The Davidson (or Emmons) Copper Mine is situated two miles south- 
east of Silver Valley. It was extensively worked for copper down to a 
comparatively late date, and was exploited to a depth of 41 G feet on the 
incline. The vein is six feet wide. 

The Cid is one mile and a quarter north-east of the Emmons, and 
has ores quite similar, but apparently may carry the precious metals 
to a somewhat higher per cent. 

The following mines may be mentioned as not being capable of 
grouping : The Hamilton and the Jesse Cox mines, in Anson County, 
near Wadesboro. The ores of the former assay fairly well. 

GUILFORD COUNTY. 

In (Juilford County are found the following mines: The Fisher and 
Millis Hill, Hodgins, North Carolina (or Fentress), the Gardner, the 
Twin, North State (McCullough), Lindsay, Jack's Hill, Deep River, 
Beason, Harland, and Beard. None of these are now worked. 

ROWAN COUNTY. 

The mines in this county in the slate belt have been described in the 
mention of the Gold Hill District. There is an approximation to belts 
in the mines of this county. One of these belts is found to the south- 
west of Salisbury, comprising, among others, the Hartman, Yadkin, 



1 



GOLD MIXING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 305 

Negus, Harrison, Hill, Southern Belle (Aldricli), Goodman, Randleman, 
and Roseman. The workings in most of these have been compara- 
tively shallow, and only one, the Aldrieh, is now operated. 

A second belt occurs two and a half miles east from Salisbury, promi- 
nent among the mines being the Dunn Mountain, New Discovery, the 
Reimer, and the Bullion. 

A third belt is in the south-eastern part of the county, where there 
are more than a hundred mineral localities, and as many more in the 
adjacent parts of Stanly and Cabarrus. The mineral veins of this sec- 
tion are of fair width, and all carry sulphurets of fair grade. 

MECKLENBURG COUNTY. 

Gold is probably more widely diffused in Mecklenburg County than 
in any other county of the central part of the State, for in this area of 
thirty by twenty miles are well-nigh one hundred mines. Hardly more 
than an enumeration can be attempted. Charlotte is the centre of a 
mineral district, and around it on all sides are mines, among them the 
following: Davidson, Blake, Point, Parks, Clark, St. Catherine, Rudisil, 
Smith & Palmer, McDonald, F. Wilson, Howell, Trotter, Carson, Taylor, 
Isenhour. 

A second group is five to ten miles west and north-west of Charlotte, 
embracing the Hayes, McGee, Brawley, Frazer, Hipp, Camnbell, Todd, 
Arlington, Capps, McGinn, Stephen Wilson, Trautman, Prim, Aber- 
nathy, Chapman, Dunn, Sloan, McCorkle, Cathey. 

A third group is found around the Ferris, six miles north of Char- 
lotte. Still another group is situated in Providence township, and 
about Sardis Church, some five to ten miles eastward from Charlotte; 
among others, the Hunter (two veins), Trediwick, and Ray (three veins). 

The Pioneer Mills group of Cabarrus County extends into Mecklen- 
burg. Of those in this county may be named the Johnson, Stinson, 
Maxwell, Black, and Harris. Other mines on the extreme eastern edge 
of the county are in the "slate belt." 

Of the above mines may be particularly mentioned those on David- 
son Hill, one mile west of Charlotte, three in number, viz., the David- 
son, Blake, and Point. 

The Rudisil and the St. Catherine are respectively the northern and 
southern ends of the same vein, and have been w^orked more deeply 
and extensively than any others in the county. The Rudisil has 
reached a depth of 350 feet, and enjoyed for several j'ears a large degree 
of prosperity from the exploitation of its three chimneys, especially 
from the "Big Ore Shoot." The subjoined assays show the character 
of the ores: 

Gold, per ton - $6.21 $20.67 $73.74 $165.36 

Silver, per ton - trace .10 2.25 .35 

$6.21 $20.77 $75.99 $165.71 

The St. Catherine has reached the depth of 4G0 feet (155 feet vertical 
and 305 feet underlay, equivalent to 370 feet vertical). In this mine 
20 



306 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

also are several valuable chimnej-s, which allowed it many years of 
profitable work. The ores range in value from §10 to $180 per ton. 

The Howell Mine is thought to be in the south extension of the 
Rudisil. It has been worked to a depth of thirty-two feet. The vein 
is two to four feet wide, and the ores assay $5.64 to $77.06 per ton. Its 
southerly extension is the Shuman, which is now worked at the depth 
of ninety feet. Irs ores are of very good grade. 

The tSmith & Palmer Mine, one mile south of Charlotte, is in the 
Rudisil neighborhood. The deepest shaft is seventy-five feet. The 
vein is two to four feet wide. The ores run $5.17 to $149.52 per ton. 

The Clark is two miles and a half west of Charlotte, and appears to 
have two vein systems. The ores have generally run well. 

The Ray (Baltimore and North Carolina) has five veins on its prop- 
erty of 360 acres. 

The Stephen Wilson Mine, nine miles west of Charlotte, has ten veins. 

The Capps Mine is five miles and a half north-west from Charlotte. 
It is one of a group of veins closely united, of which two are converg- 
ent — the Jane (McGinn gold vein) and the Capps. The Capps has an 
ascertained length of 3,000 feet, and the Jane fully as much. The 
later work on the Capps has been restricted, and finally stopped, from 
legal considerations. The last work was done at the loO-foot level. 
This mine has been noted for the amount of ores it could produce, and 
for their superior grade. There are four well-known bodies. The 
ordinary run of ores assayed $11 72, $25.94, $50.35 and $18.03 per ton, 
the latter being a strict average of a large body. 

On the McGinn mining tract are three veins, one of which is a gold 
vein, and one a copper vein. The gold vein has been worked to a depth 
of 150 feet. The run of ores is as follows: Gold, per ton, $6.52, $12.13, 
$3, $69.93, $99.76. Copper, per cent., 4.55, 8.05. 

The Cathey Mine is cupriferous as well as auriferous. 

The Chapman Mine is eight miles north-west from Charlotte. The 
developments have reached a depth of ninety-five feet. Both brown 
ore and sulphurets proved good. 

The Dunn Mine was the first discovered in the county, and not long 
after the finding of the nuggets at the Reed Mine. It has at least three 
veins, two of which have been worked to the 90-foot level. The ores 
assay fr.^m $1.26 to $128.44 per ton 

The Ferris Mine is six miles north from Charlotte. There are two 
veins, and a third on an adjoining tract, worked in the same connec- 
tion. The ores have been of more than average grade. 

The Harris Mine is ten miles nearly east of Charlotte. The stretch 
of miriing properly upon which this mine is situated is known to have 
rich gravel. Surface Hill, one of these localities, is famous for its rich 
nuggets, and occasional pockets of ore are found of extreme richness. 

The Elliott plantation, five miles south of Ciiarlotte, has several 
veins of auriferous copper ore. 

The Means Mine is five miles north-west from Charlotte, and has a 
vein of unusuallv fine free-milling ore. 



GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 307 



GASTON COUNTY. 

Only two mines are operated in this county — the Catawba and the 
Long Creek. 

The Catawba is one mile and a half south from Kings Mountain 
Station, on the Air-Line Railroad. It is in the limestone belt. When 
the work at this mine had reached its settled condition, the ore 
body was found to be limestone charged with a small percentage of 
sulphurets, including a little galenite, and the very rare mineral altaite. 
Nearly the whole formation is gold-bearing, and sometimes rises to a 
thickness of sixty feet. The following assays show the character of the 
ores : $5.65, ^3.35, $7.42, $77.08. The great width of the ore bodies, the 
ease with which the ore is mined and milled, and the small amount of 
sulphurets, combine to make even the low grades profitable. 

The work done at present on the Long Creek (McCarter) Mine is at 
the bottom of the main shaft, where a fine body of pyrites of more than 
ordinary grade is found, and in the Whim shaft, 150 feet south-west. 
Both mining and milling are proceeding vigorously. This property 
has two other veins — the Dixon and the Asbury. 

Among other mines in Gaston County may be mentioned the Oliver, 
Farrar, Rhyne, Derr, Rhodes, Robinson, Smith, Crowder's ^Mountain, 
and Patterson. 

The Duflfte has a large vein, from two to ten feet wide, and has been 
worked to a depth of 110 feet, at which depth a very large body of sul- 
phurets was found, assaying from $4.13 to $16.99. 

LINCOLN COUNTY. 

The only proniinent gold mines in this county are the Hoke, Burton, 
and Graham. 

CATAWBA COUNTY. 

The only mine now worked is the England Mine, near Newton, and 
here the operations are not extensive. 

The Shuford Mine, four and a half miles northeast of Catawba, had 
for a long period been a large producer in the way of placer work, but 
the gradual exhaustion of these placers, and the failure to find veins 
of importance, led to the ultimate abandonment of the operations. The 
A. I). Shuford Mine is three-fourths of a mile south-east. 

DAVIE COUNTY. 

The only prominent mine is the Butler (or County Line) Mine, eight 
miles south-west of Mocksville. 

CALDWELL COUNTY. 

At Baker Mine, Caldwell Comity, there are four veins, and the ores 
contain considerable rich galena. Other mines near by are the Pax's 
Hill and the Corpening. The extreme north-west corner of the county 
has, in the last two years, received considerable attention, but no impor- 
tant mines have yet been discovered, though some promise well. Among 
these are the Grigg, Finzey and the Rattlesnake. 



308 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ASHE COUNTY. 

No mines are now operated in Ashe County except the Copper Knob 
(Gap Creek). On this tract of 190 acres are three veins, one of which 
has been followed to a deplh of 140 feet. The ore seam, varying from 
four to six inches in width, is filled with vitreous copper ore, etc., and a 
little brown ore. The contents of this ore are shown below: 

Gold,perton .$34 79 §57.36 $77 51 

Silver, per ton.... 19.73 11.24 35.33 

$54.51 $68.60 $112.84 

Copper, per cent 23.82 37.44 

THE GOLD GRAVELS AND ACCOMPANYING VEINS OF 
THE PIEDMONT AND MOUNTAIN REGIONS. 

The gold gravels in North Carolina have a distribution as wide as 
the crystalline rocks. The deposits in Montgomery County have already 
been described, but those of the mountain section are deserving of sepa- 
rate notice. The source of the gold of these gravels is to be found in 
the numerous quartz veins, which penetrate the altered crystalline 
schists in innumerable number, and which, through the weathering 
process, have been concentrated in basins and channels and beds of 
streams. The South Mountain area is comprised in the space of some 
two hundred .square miles in the coterminous parts of Burke, McDowell 
and Rutherford Counties. The mining in this .section has been very 
extensive for seventy-five years, but is now languishing. The opera- 
tions of the past were necessarily confined to such deposits as lay near 
water, and when these were exhausted Avork was in a great measure 
abandoned. The work of the future will be on the deep-lying gravels, 
which require expensive treatment with powerful hydraulic means, and 
on the treatment of the numerous veins w^hich course through the strata. 
Individual veins will rarely allow of })rofital)le treatment, but collect- 
ively will frequently justify work by hydraulics. 

The following localities may be enumerated: The Golden \^illey, 
Lawson-Smart, Grayson, and Gamble, in Rutherford County. In Burke 
County, the Hancock, Glen Alpine, Carolina Queen, and J. C. Mills. 
The latter has long been worked, and has abundant resources for much 
larger operations. 

The more im|)ortant mines in McDowell Count}- are the Vein Moun- 
tain, Hunt's Mountain, and the Granville. The first and second are 
owned and operated by one company. The tract comprises 6,800 acres. 
A-^ein Mountain is well supplied with water, and extensive work has been 
done in the rich gulches, some six or eight in number, and on the 
veins, of which twenty or more have been uncovered. The following 
line of assays indicate the character of these ores: $2.5ii, $4.1o. $<121, 
$10.33, 1^13.57, §74.48 per ton. The Granville Mine contains 1,G00 
acres. 

The production of this mountain area is estimated to have been at 
least $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. 



GOLD MINING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 309 

The Polk County deposits, som^ twenty-five miles south-west, appear 
to be an extension of the South Mountain area, and while tlie deposits 
are valuable, the section is to a great extent lacking in those natural 
advantages which in the South Mountains constitute so prominent a 
feature of the work. The best known localities are the Patty Abrams, 
Wetherbee, Red Springs, Tom Arms,Splawn, Ponder, Riding, L. A. Mills, 
Carpenter, Hamilton, Neal, Maclntire, Double Branch, and Prince. 
The Splawn has a masiive vein of low-grade quartz. 

^"ein mining in Rutherford is confined to the Wallace and Idler, 
four miles north-east of Rutherfordton,and to the Elwood and Nonanta, 
near by. The ores are sulphurets of fair grade. 

No mining is carried on in either Wilkes or Watauga, though limited 
areas of gold gravel are found in both counties. 

In Henderson County, at Boylston Creek, gold has been for a long 
time obtained, but more recent explorations have disclosed an enor- 
mous deposit of gold-bearing quariz and schists, which extend in a 
north-east and south-west direction for a distance of more than two 
miles, and probably accompanied by parallel bodies of ore. This ore 
contains a small per cent, of sulphurets, and is of relatively low grade, 
but exceedingly abundant. 

There are two other gold regions — one in Cherokee, the other in 
Jackson — where gold deposits occur of sufficient richness to warrant 
consideration. 

The gold of .Jackson is obtained almost entirely from placers situated 
along the southern slopes of the Blue Ridge, near Hogback and Chim- 
ney Top Mountains. The most important locality is Fairfield Valley, 
along which these deposits extend for several miles, and are by no means 
yet exhausted. The origin of the gold is doubtless to be sought in 
veins in the Blue Ridge to the north and east, along the base of which 
Georgetown Creek has cut a deep channel. 

The deposits in -Transylvania, east of the Blue Ridge, on the head 
waters of the French Broad, are supposed to be a continuation of this 
same "belt, and to have a similar origin. 

In Cherokee County the gold belt is in the same body of soft slates 
and schist, which carry the limestone and iron (see chapter on iron), 
and is found both in placers and in veins. The sands of Valley River 
yield profitably through a large part of its course, and along some of 
its tributaries. South-east of the limestone is also a .series of " diggings" 
along the lower slopes of the mountains from near Valleytown to 
Vengeance Creek, a distance of twelve to fifteen miles. Other minor 
belts are also known in this section. 

Summary : 

Production of Precious Metals in 1891, coining value (Report 

of the Director of the Mint) $101,465 

Number of men regularly employed in 1892 ... 882 

Number of men occasionally employed in 1892 100 

Number of stamps in 1892 ... . 520 

Number of Chilian and other mills in 1892 10 

Smelting establishments in 1892 _ 1 



310 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

SILVER, LEAD AND ZINC 

Do not abound in this State. As a rule they are associated. 

Native silver has been found in some quantity at Silver Hill, and 
has been observed occasionall}' at the McMakin and Trautman mines 
at Gold Hill, and at Copper Knob, Ashe County. Sulphuret of silver 
is also reported to have been seen at the last mine; chlorides and bro- 
mides, with the associated minerals, are found only in minute quantity, 
and are of no value commercially. Silver is universally present with 
the gold in proportions ranging from twenty to five hundred one- 
thousandths in fineness. 

Zinc ores are, in this State universally associated with galena, and 
lead ores free from blende are rare. 

Brief allusion has already been made to these places, and they are 
mentioned again merely for convenience. 

Auriferous and argentiferous galena with blende is found at the 
Phifer, Lewis, Davis, Hemby, Smart, Moore and Stewart mines in Union 
County; at the Rocky River, Allen Furr and McMakin in Cabarrus; 
the Trautman, at some slightly known localities in Rowan, and in 
large bodies at Silver Hill and Silver A'alley in Davidson County, and 
at the Steele and Sanders mines in Montgomery. 

Flint Knob, in Wilkes, and Baker Mine, in Caldwell, may also be 
enumerated. A very small proportion of galenite is also found at the 
Catawba Mine in Gaston County. 

COPPER. 

In the chapter on gold the mines containing co[)per have been suffi- 
ciently discussed, and they are merely summarized here, the reader 
being referred to that chapter for assays and other particulars. Prom- 
inent among these localities are: the Gardner, North State, Lindsay, 
Fentress and Hodge's Hill in Guilford; the Conrad Hill, Emmons and 
Cid in Davidson; in Rowan, the Gold Hill; in Cabarrus, the Phoenix 
and Pioneer Mills; in Mecklenburg, the Ray, Ferris, McGinn, "Hope- 
well, Cathey, Elliott, Crosby and Dunn; in Randolph, the Snencer; 
the Clegg and Chick in Chatham ; the Foust in Alamance; the Burrell- 
Wells in Gaston; the Graham in Lincoln. These ores are auriferous 
as well as cupriferous, and in any rational treatment both metals 
should be taken into account. 

Of the copper mines which carry no gold, or too little to be of any 
account, the fallowing localities may be described: 

In Granville and Person Counties is a remarkable series of co])per 
mines, commencing just a little south of the Virginia line and stretch- 
ing south-west some ten or twelve miles. Among the more important 
mines are the Royster, Tack and Silver Nugget mines near Blue Wing, 
then the Holloway, two and one-half miles south-west, with two veins; 
the Mastodon Mine, near the Granville-Person line, the Poole, one- 
fourth mile west, and the Buckeye Mine; the (iillis Mine, the earliest 
discovered of the group, is one mile s'^uth; there are four or five veins 
on this tract; the Copper World is in Person County one and one-half 



THE IRON ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 311 

miles south-west from the Gillis, and still further south is the Yancey 
Mine, with two or three veins. 

At none of these mines is the ordinary yellow sulphuret of copper 
abundant; on the contrary, the ores are black sulphuret of copper, 
vitreous copper ore, or some one of the allied high-^rade copper 
sulphides. At the Royster (Blue Wing) Mine, thirty-five to forty men 
are employed. The run of the mine assays oh to 8^ per cent., which is 
concentrated to 20 to 50 per cent; about fifty tons per day are mined. 
The product is shipped to the Orford Copper Works. 

The copper belt of Jackson and Haywood occupies the middle por- 
tions of those counties, from the head waters of Tuckasegee River to 
Savannah Creek, the principal points being Waryhut, Cuilowhee and 
Savannah mines. At least twenty places may be enumerated in this 
section where copper ores occur, but in what abundance is not known. 

The occurrence of copper at Copper Knob, Ashe County, has already 
been pointed out. The most remarkable vein in the State is at Ore 
Knob, in Ashe County; it has been proved by trial shafts for nearly 
2,000 feet, and its thickness is six to fifteen feet, and sometimes twenty. 
The ores of the upper part of the mine were of very high grade, but 
at the depth to which the work was finally prosecuted (400 feet), the 
contents had fallen to 4 or 5 per cent, of copper, which did not allow 
of profitable work at the low price of the metal; and in the face of the 
competition of the more favorably situated Lake Superior mines, opera- 
tions ceased in 1882. From 1873 to 1880, the results of a very com- 
plete smelting and chemical plant were satisfactory. 

The Peach Bottom or Maxwell Mine is in the western partof Alleghan}'- 
County. The ore is almost entirely chalcopyrite; iron pyrite is almost 
wanting. The ore is scattered in grains in a decomposed gneiss, and is 
susceptible of easy dressing The vein has been operated for several 
hundred feet in length, and to a depth of 140 feet; the width varies 
from four to six feet. 

On Moseley's farm, in Surr}' County, five miles from Elkin, is a vein 
carrying yellow copper ore. Near Trap Hill, Wilkes County, on the 
east side of Bryan's Knob, is a bold outcrop traceable for nearly four 
miles, and everywhere carrying pyrrhotite and pyrite, with a small 
percentage of chalcopyrite, frequently auriferous. 

At present no copper is produced in North Carolina, but ores are 
shipped from the Granville County district. The present price of cop- 
per, and the condition of the trade, are not favorable to the speedy 
development of this mineral resource. 



THE IRON ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In every part of the State, and in great variety, are found magnetic ore, 
hematite, limonite, and some sideriie. Those from the older formations 
are commonly free from phosphorus and sulphur, but sometimes con- 
tain titanium, etc. 



312 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

A cursoiy survey of the gfooraphical occui-reDces may properly 
precede this chapter. The ores of tlie (Quaternary are limonite, and in 
deposits shallow and of limited extent. 

In the Upper Laurentian and the Huronian are: Gaston and vicinity, 
in Halifax County, five points; Granville and Person Counties, several 
localities; Durham County, beds at Red Mountain; and at Chapel Hill 
in Orange County; in (Jnatham County, in six veins at or near Ore 
Hill, and at Buckhorn Falls; in Randolph and Montgomery Counties, 
in at least twenty-five localities. 

The Tuscarora and Highfield Ranges in Guilford and other northern 
counties occur in a belt more than thirty miles long. Commencing in 
Iredell County, and extending through to Gaston County and far into 
South Carolina — a stretch of nearly sixty miles — is a still more remark- 
able belt. Near Danbury, Stokes County, is a belt quite similar to the 
above. 

Surr}^ and Yadkin Counties have several localities; Burke, McDowell, 
Rutherford, Caldwell, Alexander and Wilkes have numerous beds; in 
Ashe County are three belts; in Mitchell County is the famous Cran- 
berry deposit. Other beds of magnetic ore exist in the same section, 
and, in truth, so numerous are these localities in Buncombe, Madison, 
Jackson, Haywood, Mitchell, Macon and Swain Counties, that they 
have hardly become known outside of their respective neighborhoods. 

The iron deposits of Cherokee are largely of the limonite variety. 
The coal measures of the Deep River region contain beds of argillaceous 
carbonates and black band ore. It will be observed that few parts of 
the Slate are destitute of iron deposits. These uiines will be grouped 
geographically for more detailed statements. 

LIMONITE ORES OF THE EAST. 

The earth}' accumulations of this section in the Quaternary and 
Tertiary frequently contain beds of earthy or nodular limonite. A 
deposit occurs in Nash County near the Wilson line — the Blomary 
mine — where blooms have been made on some scale. At Boney's, 
near Wallace, in Duplin Counly, is another deposit. A bed is also 
found at Rocky Point, Pender County, and on Tranters Creek, in the 
eastern part of Pitt. Edgecombe, Halifax, Pitt and Robeson show 
several other localities. They are found in shallow basins of slight 
extent, and rarely contain any large amount of ore, which ranges in 
contents from 40 to 55 per cent, in iron, and without injurious amounts 
of either sulphur or phosphorus. Picking and washing raises this 
occasionally to GO per cent., and makes an ore suitable for shipping, or 
for treatment in the Catalan Forge, in the ])roduction of superior iron 
for local use. 

On both sides of the Roanoke River, near Gaston, in Halifax County, 
are five localities occurring over a stretch of territory five miles long, 
and the scattered " tloat ore" as far south as Hines' plantation would 
indicate an even more extended range. Only two ])oints have been 
worked, the ore from which is of good grade and great purity: Iron, 
53.31 to 58 73 per cent; sulphur, none to 03, and phosphorus, none 



THE IRON ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 313 

to 0.05 per cent.; it inclines to be granular, and consists of both spec- 
ular and magnetic iron. Other less-known places are near Smithtleld 
and Leacliburg, and at VVhitaker's, seven miles south-west from Raleigh, 
at both of whicli places are notable outcrops of limonite. The metallic 
resources of these recent formations have been little investigattd. 

The Buckhorn Mine, on the Cape Fear River, in the western part of 
Harnett, is a magnificent deposit of manganiferous hematite occurring 
on a hill 200 feet high. The vein is from twenty to thii ty-si.K feet thick. 
The ore is admirably adapted to the manufacture of spiegel eisen, and 
carries : 

Iron 55.00 to 66 50 percent. 

Manganese 5.28 to 15.87 per cent. 

Phosphorus... .02 to .04 per cent. 

Sulphur .02 to .06 per cent. 

One mile south-west is another locality of similar character, (he 
Douglas Mine; two miles north is the Dewar Mine, and one mile north- 
west is the Pegram Mine, a vein of magnetic ore with four to six per 
cent, of manganese. The iron manufactured from these ores makes a 
very superior material for car-wheels, etc. This range extends ten to 
twelve miles south-west, and several places are known yielding a fine 
and rich magnetic ore. 

The Triassic, immediately adjoining the Quaternary on the west, 
and extending for about one hundred and twenty-five miles from Dur- 
ham County south-west to Anson, and with a recognized width of five 
to twenty miles, may, from an econoni'cal point of view, be summarized 
in'the following paragraphs: 

At Knap of Reeds, in Durham County, nearl}^ at the Granville line, 
are several beds of siliceous red hematite, viz: 

Iron 33. 15 per cent. 

Sulphur . .. -. .03 per cent. 

Phosphorus . .08 per cent. 

Near Haywood, in the angle of Haw and Deep Rivers, is a series of 
beds of red ochreous ore or limonite. This ore makes its appearance 
again near Sauford, twelve miles south-east. The black band or ball 
ores or kidney ores of the coal measures are imbedded in and coexten- 
sive with the coal measures at Deep River, and at several places out- 
side of this locality. The shaft in the Egypt coal mine shows three 
of these seams of ball ore, and two of black band; these beds vary 
from sixteen inches to six feet in width. Most of these ores are apt to 
be of low grade in iron, and to carry much sulphur and phosphorus. 

The Evans property (two veins) is six miles north of the Gulf. The 
ore is hematite, with contents in iron 32 to GO per cent., and hardly 
more than traces of sulphur and phosphorus. The Ore Hill Mine at 
Ore Hill, on^the Cape Fear River, and on the Yadkin Valley Railroad, 
in Chatham 'i County, is a most conspicuous propert}'. Here are six or 
more veins, two or three of which may possibly reach to ten or fifteen 
feet in thickness. The ore ranges from limonite to hematite, with con- 
tents in iron 47.87 to 58.70 per cent , traces of phosphorus, and sulphur 
0.23 to 0.28 per cent. Connected with the above two properties, and in 



314 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

close proximity, are three other propertie?, all operated to supply a 
fine steel plant at Greensboro. It may be mentioned that several other 
localities in this section show large amounts of "float'" ore. In Gran- 
ville County, at Seth Post-office, eight and one-half miles east of Blue 
Wing, is an iron locality. 

In the Huronian, in Person County, at Mount Tirzah, is a mine of 
specular iron, vvhicb during the late war supplied a furnace near by. 
A recent sampling gives: 

Iron 41.98 per cent. 

Siilpluir trace. 

Phosphorus 0. 14 per cent. 

Some six miles south-west, in Durham County, at Red Mountain, is an 
iron locality. A fine quality of magnetic iron is found on the east 
side of Haw River at Tyrrell's Mount, where the vein is reported to be 
three to four feet wide; also at Cheek's farm, three miles south-east of 
Chapel Plill. A fine micaceous hematite is found in Orange County 
near the mouth of Collins' Creek. Five miles south-east of Hillsboro 
a fine vein of magnetite is traceable for one-fourth mile. Hematite is 
also found on the Hastings place, and at the railroad bridge over the 
Eno River, one half mile west of Hillsboro; also in four other localities 
from three to five miles west and south-wf st of the same town. Surface 
specimens, botii of magnetic aud hematite, from various parts of the 
county indicate large underground stores. 

But the most notable ore bank in Orange County so far opened is at 
Chapel Hill; it is situated on a hill one-half mile north of Chapel 
Hill, and more than 200 feet above the creek at its base. The vein 
carries hematite, and is seven to ten feet wide at the main shaft, and 
with an enlargement to twenty-five or thirty feet near the second shaft. 
A second vein, five or six feet wide, crosses the former vein near shaft 
No. 1. The average analysis of the ore is: 

Iron - 65. 77 per cent. 

Pliosphorus , 0.025 per cent. 

Sulphur 0. 1 1 per cent. 

There are surface indications on the hills both to the north-east and 
to the south-west for several miles, which seem to connect this occur- 
rence at Chapel Hill with the Evans vein in Chatham County, which 
has similar ore. 

The ores of Montgomery and Randolph are found in the same great 
Huronian slate belt that constitutes the most notable feature of the 
middle region of the State, both geographically and mineralogically. 
At least twenty-five localities are known in these limits where con- 
siderable amounts of iron ore have been found, but so rugged is the 
country, and so destitute of cheap means of transportation, that hitherto 
there has been little inducement to cxi)loit or even to search for them. 
The best known of these ores occur at Franklinsville, Randolph 
County, and another vein has been opened in the same county at 
Asheboro. Both carry specular hematite, and some of the strongest 
and most highly prized iron obtained during the war came from tliis 






THE IRON ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 315 

locality, and was devoted to the manufacture of shafting, etc. Near 
Troy is an occurrence of hematite and one of magnetite. 

One of the most persistent ranges or series of beds of iron ore in the 
State crosses the county of Guilford in a north-east and south-west 
direction, passing about ten miles north-west of Greensboro, near 
Friendship. It extends from the head waters of Abbott's Creek, in 
Davidson County, entirely across Guilford to Haw, River, in Rocking- 
ham (and possibly beyond), a distance of thirty miles, making its 
appearance on nearly every plantation and hillside. The ore is mag- 
netite, and everywhere titaniferous. About three miles to the north- 
west occurs a similar and nearly parallel belt, and the relative positions 
of the two make it highly probable that they are the exposed edges of 
a synclinal basin of three miles in width, the Tuscarora Range being 
the south-eastern and the Highfield or Shaw's the north-western. The- 
average width of the veins is claimed to be fully four feet. 

The range of contents' is shown below in the average of ten samples: 

Iron 54.61 per cent. 

Titanium 8.07 per cent. 

Sulphur and ijhosphorus slight. 

There are also other iron localities in Rockingham which do not 
belong to this range: for example, near Madison and two miles below 
Morehead's factory is a ten-incli seam of red hematite of high grade. 

The Central Lower Laurentian belt from Guilford to Mecklenburg 
Counties shows no deposits of any extent, though surface specimens 
are found in many places. 

In the counties of Gaston, Lincoln and Catawba is one of the most 
extensive ore ranges in the State, as well as the best known, for it has 
been extensively worked for nearly a hundred and twenty-five years, 
and has been the principal source of the domestic supply of iron 
during that period. The ores are sometimes magnetic, but more fre- 
quently hematitic, and are found in the talcose and quartzitic schists, 
sometimes called the Kings Mountain slates (Huronian). For a detailed 
description, see "Ores of North Carolina," p. 155. This body of schists 
gradually narrows towards the north-east, and the range extends only 
three to four miles north-east of the Catawba River; to the south it 
extends into South Carolina. This range naturally divides itself into 
two sections — the northern in Lincoln and Catawba, the southern in 
Gaston and in South Carolina. 

Commencing with the most northerly of the well-known and pro- 
ductive beds in Catawba County, the success'on is: Powell ore bed, 
Littlejohn, Abernathy, Mountain Creek, Deep Hollow, Tillman, Beard, 
Morrison, Robinson, Stonewall, Brevard and Big Ore Banks; the last 
four are in Lincoln. Several furnaces and forges have been supplied 
with ore from these beds, particularly the Big Ore Bank, for a very 
long period, and the quality of the iron manufactured has always been 
good. Limestone for fluxing is found in an adjacent parallel series of 
beds. Only charcoal iron has thus far been made. Ihese beds occur 
with well-marked characteristics, as do also the horizons connected 
with them. The ore? are mostly of a schistose structure, and ma}^ be 
escribed as magnetic or specular schists, and commonly require some 



316 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

dresiino^ before use in the furnace. For a considerable part of their 
course there are two parallel beds, the combineiJ thickness being from 
four to twelve feet, and in the Big Ore Bank occasionally eighteen 
feet. The following figures show the general range of the ores: 

Big C)re Bank. Stonewall Bank. Powell Bank. 

Iron 67. 12 per cent. : o-") 40 ])er cent : 64.21 per cent. 

PhuS])horus.. .006 per cent. ; .011 per cent.; .009 per cent. 

Sulphur .12 per cent. 

Owing to the system of working by leases only a moderate depth 
has been reached. Some subordinate beds as, for instance, tlie Paine 
in Catawba, and the Graham in Lincoln, are a little removed from this 
series, while several well-known mines in these counties are entirely 
remote, viz.: The Barringer, in Catawba County, six or seven miles 
north-east of the Forny Bank, with others in the same viciniiy; and 
in Lincoln a limonite locality two miles east of Lincolnton, another 
like body seven miles north-west, and one five miles south of Cottage 
Home. 

The south part of this range in Gaston is likewise crowded with 
equally valuable min^s. Among them is the Costner, fiv^e miles south- 
west of Dallas, w'ith a vein ten to twelve ftet wide; the Ellison, one 
mile south-west; the Fergu.-on, one and one-half milis fuither on; the 
Fullen wider, one and one-half miles still further south- west. The Yellow 
Kidge lies two miles south-east of Kings Mountain village. The Moun- 
tain Ore Bank is one mile nearly north-west from the Ferguson, with a 
vein four to eight feet wide; the Ormond, one and one-half miles in the 
same direction. The latter has a magnificent vein eight to sixteen feet 
thick, and even more occasionally. This mine is a large producer of a 
very fiulverulent ore of high grade and purity, admirably adapted for 
"Fix" and largely u.sed. The subjoined analyses show the general 
character of these ores: 

Costner. Ellison. Yellow Ridge. Mountain. Orniond. 

Poirdcr Ore. Block Ore. 

Iron 66.75 52.61 61.743 57.50 65.67 67.97 

Phosphorus none none trace none .018 .023 

Sulphur, per cent -.none none .033 none trace trace 

The Atlanta and Charlotte Railroad passes in clo?e proximity to all 
these Gaston County beds. Tlie Ormond is connected by a branch road, 
over which heavy shipments of ore are daily made to Birmingham 
and to Richmond at very satisfactory rates to the producer-. No 
furnaces are at present in operation. 

The ores of Yadkin, Surry and Stokes Counties occupy a relation to 
the Pilot and Sauratown Mountains similar to that of the Gaston and 
Lincoln res to the King.s Mountain Range, and divide themselves 
into two groups. 

The Stokes magnetic bet is fully twenty miles long and four to five 
wide, in a series of parallel beds. There is a good body of ore on the 
Lee Nelson place five milts north-west of Danbury — the Grandtalher 
Ore Btnk: 

Iron 47.23 per cent. 

Titanium 12 per cent. 

Suli)hur 006 jier cent. 

Phos|)horus .081 per cent. 



THE IKOX ORES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 317 

The Rogers Ore Bank, two and one-half miles north of Danbury, is 
eight feet thick; the ore is magnetic, and has been largely worked. 
Analysis: 

Iron . - - 49.08 to G5 84 per cent. 

Phosphorus .- none. 

Sulphur — trace. 

The Danbury Furnace property, adjoining the town of Danbury, 
has several veins of high-grade and pure magnetic iron; among them 
is the Kiser Bank. Other localities of rich magnetic iron ores are 
known in the Sauratown Mountains among the head waters of the 
Dan River, but have not yet been opened. On the northern boundary 
of tliis belt is a zone of brown hematite. 

The magnetic belt above alluded to extends south-west into Yadkin 
County. The most prominent of these occurrences are, the Hobson 
mine (several veins), ranging in contents from 40 to 60 per cent, iron, 
and practically free from either sulphur or phosphorus; among these 
are the Sand, Black, Ilutchins, Upper and Shield Banks. Magnetic 
ore is also found at East Bend, and across the Yadkin River at Max- 
well's, in Davie Count}-, near its southern boundary, and at Allen's, 
seven and one-half miles north-east of Mocksville. 

In Surry County, on Tom's Creek, a few miles north-west of the 
Pilot Mountain, is a deposit of magnetite which has been w^orked to 
supply a small forge near b}'^ for more than one hundred years. 
Hyatt's bed is near the junction of Bull Run Creek and Ararat River; 
Williams' ore bed is four miles north-west of Rockford. 

The Stanly hematite ore beds, of considerable width, are between 
Elkin and Dobson. The analysis gives: 

Iron - - 53.62 to o4.52 i)er cent. 

Sulphur - _ .3o to .41 per cent. 

Phosphorus trace. 

The resources of Forsyth County have never been examined. 

Magnetic iron is found occasionally in Alleghany County. Only 
two places have attracted attention — in the north-west corner of the 
county in the angle between Surry and the Virginia line, and at 
Atwood's, four miles south-west of Sparta. 

There are many valuable beds of limonite extending from the north- 
east foot-hills of the South Mountains in a north-east direction into 
the Brushy Mountains. From Jacobs' Fork of Catawba River, near 
the eastern border of Burke, across the Catawba and by way of Gun- 
powder Creek to the waters of Middle Little River, near the eastern 
border of Caldwell, and beyond to the northern slopes of the Brushy 
Mountains, the same ore occurs with similar associations. Near the 
town of Hickory is a five-foot bed, and three miles west is the Propst 
mine. Limonite occurs on Chestnut Hill, near Icard's, and magnetic 
iron six miles south-west from Morganton. At Ore Knob, near by, are 
several outcrops of red hematite. A like series of limonite beds are 
found on Gunpowder Creek. So numerous, indeed, are these beds that 
only an enumeration can be attempted. Middle Little River, Mclntyre's 



318 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mountain, Bald Mountain, and Miry Branch, show outcroppings for a 
distance of two to three miles. On Steele Creek, in the north-west 
part of Burke, are outcrops of magnetite and hematite. Limonite also 
occurs at Brindletown. A bed of superior magnetite is found on Warrior 
Creek, not far from Patterson's in Caldwell, which is traceable for hun- 
dreds of yards; a like ore is al;o reported to exist in large quantities 
on Mulberry Creek. Fine martite schist is found at Richlands, analyzing : 

Iron 67.32 per cent. 

Phosphorus none. 

Sulphur .06 per cent. 

At Bull Ruffin, some ten miles north-east of the above, in the edge 
of "Watauga County, is a similar ore of the very highest character: 

Iron 67.67 per cent. 

Phosphorus trace. 

Sulphur - .025 per cent. 

Magnetic iron is found at Farthing's farm, five and one-half miles 
north of Lenoir, containing: 

Iron 57.14 per cent. 

Titanium none. 

This whole range passes into Surry County, seventy-five miles dis- 
tant, where, at Fisher's Peak, near the Virginia line, beautiful martite 
schist is also found. Titaniferous iron ore is found on Curtis' farm, 
near Richlands, in a bluff at least forty-five feet thick: 

Iron 37.10 per cent. 

Titanium 36.40 per cent. 

Phosphorus trace. 

Some attention has lately been given to the limoni'es of McDowell 
County, in the south-west part of Linville Mountains. Among these 
localiiies are Connolly's, Flemming"s, Pinnacle, Paddy's Creek, in the 
gap on top of Linville Mountains; at Shortofl' Mountain and extend- 
ing on to Carson's Ore Bank of the North Fork; also in Peter's Cove, 
near the Yancey iron mines, where magnetic iron occurs; magnetite is 
also occasionally found at other points in this mountain. There is an 
abundance of limestone near by for fluxing. Limonite also occurs in 
the same range, at Ore Mountain, just over the line in Buncombe 
County. In jVIitchell County are several beds of limonite one mile 
south-east of Bakersville, at Mclvinney's; also four miles north-west 
of Flat Rock. But the abundant and pure magnetites of Mitchell are 
the chief resources of this section. Here, on the western slope of the 
Iron Mountain, and three miles from the Tennessee line, is found at Cran- 
berry the largest deposit of magnetite in this section. The prevalent 
rock of the mountains here is hornblende, schists, etc.; the ore is a 
pure magnetite associated with pyroxene and epidote. The length of 
this outcrop is about 1,500 feet, and its width 200 to 800 feet. The 
operations are quarrying, rather than mining. The ore is practically 
free from phosphorus and sulphur, and with some care in handling 
can be brought up to 60 or 68 per cent, of iron, though the shipments 
ona large scale are somewhat lower. The purity of the ores has given 
them a wide reputation, and they are largely used for mixing. 



THK JliON OKKS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 319 

Other beds of magnetite occur in the same neighborhood along the 
face of the same mountain in both directions from Cranberry, and 
there is an extensive range of iron ore beds in this region of the greatest 
value. At Flat Rock, five miles south-east of Bakersviile, is a large 
vein, and at Rock Creek, the same distance west on Rock Creek, are 
several beds. Unexplored beds are known near Bakersviile, and two 
beds to the north-west, near the State line, and on the head waters of 
Big Rock Creek at the foot of Roan Mountain. This region is of the 
highest promise, and with adequate facihties would afford enormous 
supplies of ore to this most important industry. 

The inaccessibility of Ashe County will soon be a thing of the past, 
and the hope of profitable investment has stimulated a more careful 
examination of this section, both by private parties and by the State 
and National governments. So far as the results have been made pub- 
lic, the iron ore deposits seem to group themselves into three nearh^ 
parallel ranges. 

The first is found ju-t to the north-west of the North Fork of New 
River, which crosses the county in the center and nearly diagonally 
from south-west to north-east. This Ballou or River Belt is about six 
miles long, and is cut in its center by Little Helton Creek. The veins 
range from two to twelve feet in thickness, and the ore is magnetite of 
high grade, ranging from 45.5 to 67.35 per cent, of iron, and traces 
only of sulphur and phosphorus; the localities are Brown's, Ballou s. 
Gentry's and Lundford's. 

The second belt — tlie Red Hill or Poison Branch belt — commences 
near the Virginia line where it is cut b}^ the North Fork, and extends 
in a south-west direction nearly across the county. The more impor- 
tant developments are, commencing on the north-east, Lee Pugh's, 
J. L. Pugh's, Smith's, Dancy's, Black's, Red Hill,PIelton Knob, McClure's, 
Blevin's, French's and Hampton's — a distance of perhaps fifteen miles. 
The veins range in width from two to ten feet, and the ore is mostly 
magnetic, sometimes manganiferous, of great purity and satisfactory 
richness. The titaniferous belt is in the north-west part of the county, 
commencing near the head waters of Little Helton Creek, near the 
Virginia line, and extending nearly five miles. It is about three miles 
north-west of the Red liill belt. The prominent points are Young's, 
McCarter's, Pennington's and Kirby's. The widtii of these veins is 
considerable, ranging from eight to twent^'-five feet. The contents in 
iron are satisfactory and the purity is assured, but titanium is almost 
invariably present, sometimes exceeding eight per cent. 

The iron ores of the south-west mountain section from Buncombe 
westward to Cherokee are imperfec'l}^ known, and only an enumeration 
of places will be attempted. In Madison County magnetite is found 
on the head waters of Ivy Creek, and so also is titaniferous iron ; mag- 
netite also occurs at the Smith Mine near the mouth of the same creek, 
and on Upper Spring Creek; on Bear Creek, below Marshall; on the 
eastern fork of Big Laurel ; and at the Redman and at the Sikes mines, 
near Marshall. Prof. C. D. Smith locates three zones in this county. 



320 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Five miles from Asheville is found a bed of limonite several feet 
thick, and a range of limonite beds, associated with the limestone, 
extends into Transylvania. 

In the north-west part of Haywood, on Wilkins Creek, is a bold 
outcrop of magnetite. There are also magnetites and hematites in 
various localities of Jackson and Macon, where extensive deposits are 
reported. Magoetite is found in Macon at Fish Hawk Mountains, and 
at Ellijay Creek, south-east of Franklin; at Angel's and at Washburn's at 
the head of Cartoogajay Creek. Limonite is also found at Quallatown 
in Jackson County. 

No county in North Carolina contaii:s so large stores of iron ore as 
Cherokee, but it is mostly limonite. The marble beds of A^alley and 
Notteley Rivers are everywhere accompanied by beds of this ore, there 
being sometimes as many as four parallel beds. The breadth of this 
iron and marble range is two to three miles. The river valley, extend- 
ing in a north-east and south-west direction, is about twenty-four miles 
long, and there is a bifurcation of it some six or eight miles above 
Murph}', the eastern branch pursuing a more southerly course some 
six miles or more, making a series of deposits of thirty miles in length. 
At several points there are reduplications. At Valleytown there are 
two parallel beds; at the Parker Gold Mine are three beds. At Col- 
bert's, six or seven miles above Murphy, are iron beds, also a large 
bed at Mrs. Leatherwood's; at Mrs. Hayes' is another bed, and several 
beds or series of beds between this and Murph3^ One-half mile below 
Murphy are four limonite beds, and beds at several other points down 
the river. On the eastward branch of the bifurcation above alluded 
to, are similar beds at something like a dozen points as far to the east- 
ward as Brasstown Creek. The quantity of ore is immense and widely 
distributed, and it is of fair grade in its iron constituents. 

These notes are necessarily brief, and have been confined to those 
points which have been more or less investigated and are compara- 
tively accessible; nevertheless, the points mentioned are but a part of a 
large whole. The reader who desires to look into the current infor- 
mation will find many details in the "Ores of North Carolina," and in 
the various bulletins published b}' the State. 

MANGANESE. 

Ores of manganese are not abundant in North Carolina, though 
found to some extent in connection with gold, silver and iron ores. 
There is a very promising bed of psilomelane in Caldwell Count}^ five 
rjiiles west of Lenoir, and at Perkins' Mine, ten miles west of Lenoir, 
is another bed of oxide of manganese one foot thick. A large bed is 
reported at Lowe's, in Surry County. At Blue Ridge Gap, in Mitchell 
County, is a bed of pyrolusite. A small seam occurs near Danbury, 
Stokes County. The m^inganiferous ores of Backhorn Mine have been 
described under the head of Iron. A manganese ore from Jackson 
gave manganese 53.64 per cent. There is a series of beds associated with 
the Kings Mountain schists of Gaston and Lincoln ; a sample from near 



1 



ECONOMIC MINERA1>.S. 321 

Briggs' Forge gave manganese 21.450 per cent. A similar vein is 
found near Graham's, in Lincoln County, which appears to be nearly 
six feet thick; a like vein (or probably the same vein) is found near 
Vesuvius Furnace, which contains manganese 13.50 per cent., and was 
used as a good mixing ore. 

CHROMIC IRON. 

This ore is found to some extent with the iron ore? of various parts 
of the State, especially in the Tuscarora Range in Guilford, and also 
with the chrysolite beds of Jackson, Yancey and Mitchell Counties. 
The most prominent occurrences are near Webster, and at Hampton's, 
near Burnsv'lle. The former gave chromic oxide 63.32 per cent. 

COBALT AND NICKEL. 

These metals are found very frequently in the auriferous sulphides 
of the State, but in no known instance in economical quantities. 
Nickel is found quite generally associated with the chrysolite range in 
amounts varying from 0.15 to 0.35 per cent., and with traces of cobalt. 
Prof. Phillips reports some good specimens from Ellijay Creek, Jack- 
son County, and one (garnierite) from Bowman's Bluff, Henderson, 
containing 14.89 per cent, metallic nickel. 



ECONOMIC MINERALS. 

PYRITE. 

Pyrite is one of the most common minerals of North Carolina. It 
is not only found in globular crystalline masses in many of the marl 
beds of the Eastern counties, but many of the gneissoid rocks and slates 
contain it in considerable quantities, and, besides, it is found in almost 
every mine of the State. In the gold mines the associated pyrite is 
generally auriferous. Large veins of compact pyrite are now being 
worked in Gaston County, and promising deposits are reported as 
occurring in several other c:)unties, especially in Jackson County, near 
Balsam Station on the Murphy Railroad, a large deposit is said to occur. 

MICA. 

Since 18*^)9 mica mining has been an important industry in several 
counties of the mountain region, especially in Mitchell, Yancey and 
Macon, and to a smaller extent in Jackson, Buncombe and Haywood 
Counties. The aggregate yield of cut mica to date has been more than 
half a million pounds, valued at not less than a UMllion dollars. A new 
branch of the industry is now springing up in the grinding of the 
waste mica (nearly nine-tenths of the whole) into a fine powder, which 
21 



322 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

is used in lubricants and for other purposes. The|mica occurs as large 
crystals, associated with quartz and feldspar, in veins of considerable 
extent, situated in the gneisses and crystalline schists. 

KAOLIN AND FIRE-CLAY. 

Kaolin is found in many of the Midland and Western counties of 
the State in deposits varying in quantity and quality, and suitable for 
various uses, china and other wares, paper-making, and for fire-brick. 
The largest deposits of pure white kaolin are found in the Western 
counties as a product of decomposition of the feldspar in large veins. 
A number of these veins have been worked during the past lew years. 
The largest is that worked by the Carolina Clay Company, near Webster. 

r>eds of Hre-clay and potters clay also abound in the more recent 
geological formations of the Eastern and Midland counties. The two 
largest deposits of fire-clay, at })resent known, are one near Spout 
Springs in Harnett County, on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Kail- 
road, and on the Northwestern North Carolina Railroad, about four 
miles southwest of (Jreensboro. Fire-brick from both these beds have 
stood satisfactorily the severest furnace tests. Clay from the latter of 
these deposits is now being manufactured into fire-brick and terra-cotta 
ware on a considerable scale. Fire-clay is also said by P^mmons to be 
abundant in (Ja&ton County, and there is a deposit covering a consid- 
erable area on the Murphy Railroad, three miles west of Asheville, from 
which fire-brick are now being manufactured. 

TALC. 

Foliated and fibrous talc occurs in many places, but the large work- 
able beds of this mineral appear to be limited to Macon and Cherokee 
Counties. Here on the Nantahala River in Macon County, and on 
Valley and Nottely Rivers in Cherokee, massive fibrous and foliated 
white talc occurs in irregular lenticular masses in the beds of marble, 
and is being mined and ground at several points for use in the arts and 
manufactures. 

Soapstone, an impure variety of talc, in the form of a greenish and 
grayish massive or slaty rock, is widely distributed in the State, and is 
mainly used locally for chimney and furnace hearths and linings. 

AGALMATOLITE 

Is found in the southwest corner of Chatham County. This is a 
large deposit belonging to the slate series (Kerr's Huronian), which has 
([uite an extensive range, occurring in Montgomery and parts of Chat- 
ham. It is popularly called soapstone, and has the soap}' feel of that 
mineral, but contains only 3.02 per cent, of magnesia. This substance 
has been an article of trade to New York on a large scale, and for 
many years. It is used in the manufacture of paper — wall-paper 
especially — soaps, cosmetics, pencils, &c., and for various adulterations. 



ECONOMIC MINERALS. 323 

BARYTE. 

Siiiall deposits of baryte are to be found in many places in the State, 
but only a few deposits are worthy of mention here. A vein of very 
white compact granular baryte, of from seven to eight feet in width, 
has been found at Crowder's Mountain. Another vein, eight feet in 
width in places, of the white granular variety, has been worked to some 
extent at Chandler's, nine miles below Marshall, in Madison Count\% 
and other veins are reported as occurring in this region. 

WHETSTONE. 

Among the silicious argillytes, so abundant in the region described 
by Kerr as Huronian, there are frequent beds of novaculite or whet- 
stone. One of the best localities is a few miles west of Chapel Hill, 
from which these stonps have been carried in all directions. Other 
quarries are found in Person County, near Roxboro; in Anson, not far 
from Wadesboro ; in Montgomery and adjoining counties on the great 
slate belt, and, in fact, almost every section of the State has its own 
quarries, which either do or might supply the local demand, at least in 
part and as to articles of the commoner grades. 

MILLSTONE AND GRINDSTONE GRITS. 

The sandstone of the State is, in many places, well adapted to the 
purposes of grindstones, and during the war, while the foreign supply 
was cut off, they were largely so used. The Anson County quarries 
furnish a very fine grindstone and whetstone grit. 

The conglomerates of the triassic series, which are associated with 
and replace the sandstones above mentioned, have been long and 
widely used for millstones. They have been principally obtained from 
Moore Count}', on McLendon's Creek, where the}' are obtained of excel- 
lent quality, and they have been distributed from this point over a 
large number of intervening counties to the Blue Ridge. Some of 
these stones have been in use for fifty years, and they are occasionally 
found to be nearly equal to the French buhr-stone. 

The coarse porphyroidal granites and gneisses, which are scattered 
over CO large a part of the State, are, however, the most common 
material for millstones; and in the Eastern section the shell rock is 
often partly or wholly silicified, forming a sort of buhr-stone, as in 
Georgia, and is well adapted to t'le same uses. In Madison County, in 
the crystalline schists in Laurel River, there is an irregularly laminated 
whitish quartz, occurring in large veins, which is used for millstones, 
which are reported to be a good substitute for buhr stone. 

CORUNDUM. 

Corundum has been found in considerable quantities in several 
counties; notablv Macon, Clay, Jackson, Haywood, Madison and Ire- 
dell, and in smaller quantities it has been found in many other places. 
During the past several years mining for corundum has been animpor- 



324 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tant industry in Macon County at Corundum Hill and on Buck Creek. 
During the present year (1892) extensive mining operations have been 
in progress at several places in Macon and Jackson, and on a smaller 
scale in Iredell and a few other counties. 

MARLS. 

Marl is very abundant in twenty-five counties in North Carolina, 
very widely distributed and of several kinds, the principal of which 
are four, viz.: Greea-sand, eocene, miocene and triassic. The first has 
generally but a small percentage of carbonate of lime, 5 to 30; the 
second, usually 40 to 95; the third, 20 to 60; and the fourth, generally 
less than 50. The last is of little consequence as a fertilizer, because of 
the very limited extent of its outcrops, and it is scarcely used where 
abundant. 

Green-sand Marl occurs throughout the Southeastern region of 
the State, between the Xeuse River and the Cape Fear. It comes to 
the surface, as stated, along the banks of the Cape Fear and Living- 
ston's Creek, on Black River aiid South River, on the Xeuse River and 
its tributaries about and below Kinston, along the Contentnea and 
Moccasin, and a few points even as far north as the Tar River. 

Eocene Marl. — The marls of the next formation, which are always 
found overlying the preceding, when the two occur together, are either 
a calcareous sand, passing in places into a friable sandstone, coarse or 
fine, or a fine calcareous clay, or a conglomerate shell limestone, more 
or less compacted, and occasionally semi-crystalline. They are com- 
posed of comminuted shells, corals and other marine exuviie. 

Miocene Marl. — These are commonly known as shell marls, or bhie 
marls. They are found in limited patches or "beds," and are scattered 
over a much wider territory than either of the preceding, and being 
nearer the surface, and so more accessible, have been much more exten- 
sively used, and are consequently much better known. They are found 
throughout a large part of the Eastern region, from South Carolina to 
Virginia. In fact, they occur in all the counties of Eastern North Car- 
olina, except those lying between and north of the great sound, and 
two or three small outcrops have been observed in Chowan and in the 
northern part of Currituck. The western boundary of these beds is 
very nearly represented by a line parallel to and three or four miles 
west of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, from Halifax toGolds- 
boro. Southward, the inland bound;\ry is found to be generally but 
little west of a line connecting the latter point and Lumberton ; that is, 
a line parallel to the coast and about sixty-five miles distant from it. 

GRAPHITE. 

This mineral, in small quantities, is quite widely distributed in North 
Carolina in the crystalline rocks, iboth slates and gneisses, and there are 
beds of a more or less impure slaty and earthy variety in several sec- 
tions of the State, the principal of which are two: one in Gaston, Lin- 
coln and Catawba, as a constant a.s.sociate of the argillaceous and 
talco.se slates and shales which belong to the Kings Mountain slates, 
and the other in Wake Countv. 



ECONOMIC MINERALS. 325 

The Wake Count}'^ beds are the most extensive, as well as the best 
known, graphite beds in the State. They extend in a northeast and 
southwest direction for a distance of sixteen or eighteen miles, passing 
two and a half miles west of Raleigh. The thickness is two or 
three, and occasionally four feet. The eastern (and longitudinally 'the 
most extensive) bed is nearly vertical. It was opened at a number of 
points many years ago and has been worked on a small scale, at inter- 
vals, during the past few years. It is a bed of quartzitic and talco- 
argillaceous slates, which are more or less graphitic, from about 
twenty or thirty to sixty per cent. 

COAL. 

The coal fields of North Carolina are referred to the triassic system. 
There are in the State two narrow belts which belong to this system. 
The smaller, or Dan River belt, from two to four miles wide, following 
the trough-like valley of that stream (about north 65° east) for more 
than thirty miles from Germanton to the Mrginia line. The other, the 
Deep River belt, extending in a similar trough five to fifteen miles 
wide (and depressed 100 to 200 feet below the general level of the coun- 
try) from the southern boundary of the State in Anson County, in a 
northeast direction, to the middle of Granville County within fifteen 
miles of the Virginia line. 

The most important and conspicuous member of both series is a 
large body of black shales, which encloses seams of bituminous coal 
two to five feet. 

The coal, with its shales, outcrops along the northern margin of the 
belt at various points for more than fifteen miles, and many shafts hav- 
ing been sunk to and through the main seam, which is the upper one, 
it is ascertained to be very persistent in all its characteristics and asso- 
ciated beds. 

In the Deep River basin Emmons reports five seams of coal, separ- 
ated by black shales and slates, black-band iron ore and fire-clay; and 
gives the area of this coal field as 300 square miles. The Eg3'pt Coal 
Company is now engaged in mining this coal, and the output is reported 
even larger than the company had been led to eXpect. 

During the past few years this coal has been mined at Egypt, and 
arrangements are being made for mining at other places. The coal 
varies from bituminous to a semi-anthracite in quality, containing 
from 68 to 85 per cent, of carbon, and from 5 to 33 per cent, of volatile 
matter, from 5 to 10 per cent, of ash, and from 5 to 3.5 per cent, of 
sulphur. It cokes well, is an excellent coal for gas, and is suitable for 
a variety of furnace work. 

In the Dan River basin coal is exposed at a number of places near 
the southeast border of the formation, along the road on the south side 
of the river, between Germanton and Walnut Cove. At a few points 
it is a bituminous coal of fair quality, and the seam from two to four 
feet thick. The outlook for the occurrence here of workable beds of 
coal is promising, and some prospecting has been carried on during the 
present year, but the result has not yet been fully determined. 



32G JIAND-BOOK OK NORTH CAKOLINA. 

Black bituminous shales appear at various points in the direction of 
Madison and Leaksville. Near this latter place, a slope was driven 
sorae sixty feet on the coal seam three feet thi'k, and dipping 35° 
northwest ; but here, as at several of the places prospected near AValnut 
Cove more recently, the coal is so impure that it can hardly be consid- 
ered more than a highly carbonaceous shale. 

GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES. 

The discovery several years ago of emerald and hiddenite in Alex- 
ander County, where mining operations on a considerable scale have 
been carried on, may be fairly said to have inaugurated a new indus- 
try in Western North Carolina — the search for gems. This industry has 
now grown to considerable proportions. The larger amount of mining 
has been done in the explorations for hiddenite, emerald, beryl and 
rarely tinted garnets, but a limited amount has also been done in 
searching for ruby corundum, sapphire, oriental emerald and topaz, 
kyanite, rock crystal, and other rare minerals. Only a few notes can 
be given here relative to the more important g<ems. 

Diamond. — Tliirteen small diamonds have been found in the State, 
seven of which were discovered in the gold-bearing gravel beds in 
Burke, Rutherford and McDowell Counties, centering about the Brin- 
dletown region. Of the others, one has been found in Lincoln, two in 
Mecklenburg, t\vo in Franklin and one in Richmond County 

Hiddenite: is an emerald-green gem, a variety of spodumene, found 
at Stony Point, Alexander County, where it occurs in the soil and in 
cavities in gneissoid rock, along with emerald (beryl), monazite, rutile, 
allanite, quartz crystals, etc. A considerable amount of mining for 
these gems has been carried on during the past few years, and both hid- 
denites and emeralds of rare beauty and considerable value have been 
obtained. Hiddenite was named after Mr. Wm. E. Hidden, of New 
Jersey, by Prof. J. Laurence Smitii, who identified the mineral; to the 
energy of Mr. Hidden is due its introduction as a gem of rare value, but 
specimens of the native crystal were in the possess on of Mr. J. A. D. 
Stevenson, of Statesville, N. C, for several years prior to this time (1881). 
This gem has not bee^i found elsewhere than at this locality. 

Emerald — A beryl of emerald-green color has been found in the 
North Carolina mica veins in Mitchell and Yancey Counties, and at 
Stony Point, Alexander County, as a gem material of great beauty. 

Aquamarine. — Bluish green, transparent beryl, has also been found 
in small crystals and masses in many of the mica veins of Mitchell, 
Yancey, Alexander and other counties. This is more abundant than 
the eineraM. Both were often thrown away on the dumps about the 
mines several years ago, but they are now watched for carefully in min- 
ing for mica, and, in some cases, the transparent beryl is the material 
for which the mine is operated. 

Many fine beryl crystals of different colors, and ranging in size from 
very small to more than two feet long and seven inches in diameter, 
have been collected at these mica mines, and some from other forma- 
tions. 



ECONOMIC MINKKALS. 327 

Rfujy. — The ruby corundum has been found in Clay and Macon in 
considerable quantity, and to some extent in Jackson, Iredell, Mitchell 
and Gaston Counties. Perhaps the most noted locality has been Corun- 
dum Hill, in Macon County, where many fine gems have been found. 

Sapphike. — The sapphire corundum has been found in many of the 
localities named for the ruby, but is more rare. Nevertheless, a con- 
siderable number of j)retty gems have been discovered. The same 
is true in regard to the oriental gems— emerald and topaz. 

Kyanite is a widely distributed mineral in the State. At several 
places it has been found in specimens of sufficient clearness and beauty 
to be cut as a gem. The finest material yet di.-^covered was found on 
Yellow Mountain, near Bakersville. It was of a beautiful deep-blue 
color, and from it were cut gems equal to the finest sapphire in appear- 
ance. 

Rock Crystal is abundant and widely distributed. Many rare and 
interesting forms have been found, and some remarkably large crystals, 
nearly three hundred pounds in weight, have been found in Ashe 
County. Many and beautiful specimens of rutilated quartz, and smoky 
quartz (cairngorm) have also been fnund at a number of localities. 

Opal. — A number of specimens of opal and opalescent quartz have 
been found in Cabarrus and other counties during the past few years, 
some of the specimens of considerable beauty and value. 

Agate. — Specimens of common agate have been found in Cabarrus 
and Mecklenburg Counties, and among them a few handsome gems. 
Some fine specimens of moss- agate have been found in Orange County. 

Garnet is widely distributed throughout the State, and is a constant 
consiituent of many of the mica and hornblende slate, and also of the 
talcose and chloritic slates. Larger crystals of a brownish-red color are 
frequently met with in the mica mines of Mitchell and Yancey Coun- 
ties. The most beautiful and perfect large crystals of the brownish-red 
color, are found in Burke, Caldwell and Catawba Counties. Some 
of these when cut show a peculiar play of colors. Large crystals and 
crystalline masses of a reddish-brown garnet are found in Macon and 
Mitchell Counties. Pyrope of good color has been observed in Burke 
and McDowell Counties. The massive manganese garnet is abundant 
in Rutherford, Chatham, Stokes, Cabarrus, Lincoln, Gaston and Rock- 
ingham Counties. At a locality eight miles southeast of Morganton, 
several tons of garnets were collected and used in the manufacture of 
sand-paper. The rarest colored garnets, for gem purposes, are found in 
Macon County. 

Zircon. — Small zircon crystals abound in the gold sands of Burke, 
McDowell, Rutherford, Caldwell, Mecklenburg and other counties, in 
yellowish-brown and brownish-white, sometimes amethystine, pink and 
blue colors. Large grayish-brown crystals of zircon are found so 
abundant on the south side of the Blue Ridge, near Green River, Hen- 
derson Count}^ that in 1869 General Clingman easily obtained one 
thousand pounds in a few weeks, and a few years ago over thirtj' tons 
were mined at this locality, where the crystals are found bedded in a 
decayed feldspathic gneiss. 



3'28 HAND-BOOK OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In addition to the above, it is worthy of mention that specimens of 
malachite, rutile, tourmaline, spinel, chrysolite, lazulite, carnelian and 
jasper, all of considerable beauty, have been found in different local- 
ities in the State, and promise supplies of new gem material. 

Pearls.— From the mussels in some of the creeks and ponds of 
the State, are occasionally found pearls of fair quality. 



INDEX, 



Page. 

Agalmatolite 280-322 

Agate .. 327 

Agricultviral Department . . 62-3 

Agricultural and Mechanic Arts, 

Collegeof 64-69 

Agricultural Products . 206 

Agricultural Products, Kinds and 

quantity of 207 

Aquamarine 326 

Balsam Mountains 3 

Bary tes 281-323 

Basket Factory 282 

Bingham School 84 

Black Mountains .-.-.. 5 

Bleaching Factory 282 

Blue Ridge Mountains 2 

Boundaries of the State 1 

Brooms, Manvif actory of 282 

BuUding Stones - . 292 

Bucket Factories ... ... . 279 

Bulbs and Herbs -- 253 

Bulbs and Herbs, Varieties of, 

Marketed . 253 

Bulbs and Herbs, Extent of Busi- 
ness of Wallace in 253 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 72 

Canals and Artificial Navigation .289-290 

Canal. Chesapeake and Albemarle 25 

Canal. Dismal Swamp ... 25 

Canneries, Fruit and Vegetable ..275-277 

Canneries, Oyster 277 

Chromic Iron 321 

Citizenship 54 

Climate . . . - 42 

Climate, Varieties of, from East 

to West 43 

Climate, Varieties of Winter 44 

Climate, Varieties of Summer ... 44 

Coal ... .- 325 

Cobalt and Nickel 321 

Colleges for the Colored People . . 91 

Shaw University ... 9 1-92 

Scotia University 92 

Livingston College . . 93-94 

Biddle University 94 

St. Augustine Theological 

School -. 94 

Agricultural and Mechanical 

School. 94-95 

Copper, Localities of 310 

Copper Mines in Granville and 

Person ... 310 

Copper Mines in Jackson and Hay- 
wood 311 

Copper Mines in Ashe 311 

Copper Mines in AUeghany 311 

Copper Mines in Surry 311 



Pagb. 
Corundum 323 

Cotton, Quantity of, Produced to 

the Acre 207 

Cotton,RelativeExtentof Crop of-21 7-219 
Cotton, Quahty of North CaroUna 

Crop of - 219 

Cotton. Number of Counties in 

State Producing 219 

Cotton, Crop of , in 1889 . 220 

Cotton-gin, Introduction of 218 

Cotton Spinning-jenny, Introduc- 
tion of 218 

Cotton Mills in North Carolina... 269-271 
Cotton Mills, Number of, in Opera- 
tion - . 271 

Cotton Mills, number building. . 271 
Cotton-seed Oil Mills ...... . . . . 277-278 

Cotton-seed Oil Mills, where oper- 
ated .. 278 

Cotton Bag Factories . . 282 

Cotton-planters, Manufactories of. 282 

Counties, Description of 96 

Alamance 96 

Alexander 97 

Alleghany 98 

Anson 99 

Ashe 100 

Beaufort 100-103 

Bertie . 103 

Bladen 104 

Brunswick 104-105 

Buncombe 106-108 

Burke 108-109 

Cabarrus 109-110 

Caldwell 110-11 1 

Camden 111-112 

Carteret 112-113 

CasweU 113-114 

Catawba 114-115 

(.'hatham 115-116 

Cherokee .1 16-117 

Chowan ..118-119 

Clay 119 

Cleveland .120-121 

Columbus 121-122 

Craven 122-124 

Cumberland 124-126 

Currituck 126-127 

Dare 127-128 

Davidson 128-129 

Davie 130 

Duplin 131 

Durham .131-133 

Edgecombe 133-134 

Forsyth. 135-137 

Fi-anklin 137-138 

Gaston 139 



330 



INDEX. 



Paqk. 

Counties — Gates 140 

Graham 140-141 

Granville 141-142 

Greene 143 

Guilford 148-145 

Halifax ...146-147 

HaiTiett 147-148 

Havwood 148-149 

Henderson 149-150 

Hei tford 150-15 1 

Hvde 151-152 

Iredell 153 

Jackson 153-154 

Joliuston 1 55 

Jones - 155-156 

Lenoir 156-157 

Lincoln 157-158 

McDowell 158-159 

Macon 159-160 

Madison 161-162 

Martin 162-163 

Mecklenburg 163-164 

Mitchell 165 

Montgomery .. 165-166 

Moore 166-167 

Nash .167-169 

New Hanover 169-171 

Noriliampton . . in 

Onslow . 172-173 

Orange ...173-174 

Pamlico 174 

Pas(]uotank 1 75 

Peni ier 175-1 76 

Pen I ui mans 177 

Person 177-178 

Pitt 178-179 

Polk 179-18U 

Randolph 180-181 

Richmond.. _. 181-182 

Robeson 183-184 

Rockingham . . 184-185 

Rowan 185-1H6 

Rutherford 186-187 

Sampson 187-188 

Stanlv 188-189 

Stokes .189-190 

Smry 190-192 

Swain 192-193 

Transvlvania 193-194 

Tvrreil 194-195 

Union 195 

Vance 195-196 

Wake .. .. ..196-198 

Warren 198-199 

Wasiiington . . 199 

Watjiuga 200 

Wayne 201-202 

Wilkes 202-203 

Wilson 203-204 

Yadkin 204 

Yancey 204-205 

Cowee Mountains 3 

Cross Chains 3 

Davis School 85 



Page. 

Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute.. 61 

Denominational Colleges 80 

W^ake Forest 80-81 

Davidson 81-83 

Trinity 81-83 

Diamonds 326 

Dimensions of the State 1 

Education 75 

Eastern Section 11 

Eastern Section. Soils of 11-12 

Economic Minerals 321-328 

Emeralds 326 

Fancy .Wood- work. Factory for.. 282 

Fertilizer Factories . . . 278 

Fertilizer Factories, where oper- 
ated ..278-279 

Fire-clay 322 

Fish, Varieties of 245 

Fish. Catch of .... 247 

Fisheries 241-242 

Fisheries, Statistics of 242 

Fisheries of tlie Cape Fear 242 

Fisheries of Heaufort and More- 
head 243-244 

Fisheries of .\ewbern . 245 

Fisheries. Information Relating to 

the .. 245-246 

Forests 6 

Extent of . 27 

Variety of 27 

Trees of the 27 

Pine, Long- leaf 28 

Pine. White 29 

Pine. Yellow. 29 

Pine. Jersey 29 

Pine, Slash* 29 

Cypress . . 30 

White Cedar, or Juniper, 30 

Balsam Fir :^i 

Black Spruce :^i 

Oak. Live . . .. 30 

Oak. White 82 

Oak, Post 88 

Oak, Spanish 33 

Oak, Black 33 

Oak, Scarlet 33 

Oak, Willow 33 

Oak , Laurel 34 

Oak. Shingle.. 34 

Oak, Water 34 

Oak, Blackjack 34 

Oak, Rock Chestnut 34 

Hickory 33-34 

Hickory, Shell bark 35 

Hickory. Common 3.") 

Hickory, Pig-nut .35 

Walnut. Black .35 

Walnut. White .. 35 

Chestmit 35 

Chin([uapin 36 

Beech 37 

Buckeye 36 

Locust . 37 

(\atalpa _. 37 



INDKX. 



331 



Forests, Trees of the — Maples . . . 
Ash 

Ehns . 

Wild Cherry 

Guins 

Tulip Tree, or Poplar... 

Frost, Usual tiist fall of 

Furniture Factories 

Garnet 

Grems - - 

Geological Museum . 



Pagk. 

87 

38 

38 

38 

39 

39 

4;") 

282 

327 

32(5 

73 

Gold-mining in North Carolina . 296-297 

Gold Gravels in the Piedmont and. 

Mountain Sections 308-309 

Gold-mining in Warren, Franklin 

and Nash 297 

Gold-mining in Moore 297 

Montgomery 298-299 

Randolph 299 

Stanly 300-301 

Cabarrus 301-302 

Davidson .. .303-304 

Guilford 304 

Mecklenburg 305-306 

Rowan 304-305 

Gaston . 307 

Lincoln, Catawba. Davie and 

Caldwell 307 

Ashe . _ 308 

Government, Character of State. 53 

Governor's Mansion 74 

Granite . Quarries of . 292-294 

Grape in North CaroUna 253 

Cu Iti va tion of the 254 

Varieties of the 254 

Vitis aestivalis 254 

Vulpina . 255 

Labrusca 255 

Graphite 324 

Green River Mountain 3 

Grindstone . . . . ... 323 

Heiglits of Mountains 5 

Hiddenite . 326 

Higher Female Education 86 

Salem Female School 86 

St. Mary's School 87 

Peace Institute 87 

Greensboro Female College . . 88 

O.xfoi'd Female Seminary 89 

Asheville Female College 89 

Horner School . . 85 

Hungr}- Mountains . . ... 3 

Inland Navigation, Extent of . _ 290 

Internal Revenue, amount paid at 

Durham ... 292 

Internal Revenue, amount paid at 

Winston 292 

Iron Manufactories .... 281 

Varieties of . . 281 

Iron Ores in North Carolina 311 

Geographical location of ... .311-312 

Varieties of ..312-320 

Judicial Departm't, Composit'n of, 57 

Kaolin, Deposits of 280-323 



Page. 

Kyanite 827 

Lakes 23 

Mattamuskeet 23 

Phelps 23 

.Mligator 23 

Pungo 23 

Waccamaw 25 

Legislative Departm't, Election of, 57 

Linville Mountains 4 

Literary Funds . . 77 

Locust Pins, Manufactory of .. . 288 

Manganese 320 

Marls 324 

Manufactories in North Carolina. 267-268 
Marble, Quarries and formafns of .295-296 

Mica 321 

Middle and Piedmont Sections . . . 3-8 

Mineral Springs in North Carolina, 236 

Cleveland .. 237 

Sparkling Catawba 238 

Connelly 238 

Barium"^ 238 

Moore 239 

Piedmont 239 

Ellerbe .. 240 

Panacea 240 

Seven Springs 240-241 



(ilen Alpine. 

ilillstones . . . 

]\Iorus Multicaulis Fever ... 

Mountain Section 

Nantahala Mountains _ . 

New-found Mountain 

New Garden and Friends" Board- 
ing School 

Newspapers, List of, in the State .. 290-292 
Normal and Industrial School for 

Females 

N urseries . Fa v( )rable conditionsf or 

Nursery, Pomona HiU 

Occoneechee Mountains .... 

Opal 

Orphanages 

Oxford 

Thomasville .. ! 

Th( )mpson 

Presbyterian 

Odd Fellows .... 

(. olored Baptist . . 

Oysters, and Oyster Survey ... . . 

Enactment of Law for Pro- 
tection of 

Report of Lieut. Winslow on. 248-249 

E X tent of tirounds 250 

Variation in (jualities of 250 

Peanuts 221-222 

Chief State Market for 222 

Pearls . . . . 328 

Penitentiary, The State 61 

Pine-leaf Factories 279 

Pisgah, Mount .. . 3 

Population of the State, Homoge- 

neousness of . 47 

Population of the State, Origin of, 47 



241 
323 
234 
1-3 
3 
3 

90 



89 

251 

251 

4 

327 

70 

70 

71 

71 

71 

71 

72 

247 

248 



332 



INDEX. 



Paqk. 

Population of the State, Negro. . - 48 
Population of the State, Indian.. 49 
Population of the State, Aggregate 50-52 
Ports and Harbors of North Caro- 
lina 223-227 

Potato Barrels, Manufactory of . . 282 

Pottery, etc 279-280 

Precious Stones .- 326 

Private Schools 85-86 

PubUc Institutions 60 

Public Buildings . - 74 

Public School System 76 

Pyrites . .._. 321 

Railroads, History of 282-284 

Mileage, etc. , of 285-286 

Railroad Commission 73 

Rain-fall, Average annual 45 

Religious Denominations, Legal 

equality of 59 

Religious Denominations, Mem- 

bersliip of 59 

Resorts, Hotels 259 

Sea-side 259 

Nags Head 259 

Beaufort Harbor 260 

Island Beach 260 

Carolina Beach ... 260 

Mountain Resoi'ts — HotSp'gs. 261 

Havwood White Sulphur. 262 

Asheville 262-263 

Battery Park Hotel 

Svvannanoa Hotel 263 

Kenilvvorth Inn 263 

Oakland Heights Hotel.. 264 

Belmont Hotel 264 

Arden Park 264 

Hendersonville 264 

Flat Rock 265 

Blowing Rock 265 

Green Park Hotel 265 

LinviUe 265 

Cloudland Hotel _ . 265 

Southern Pines 265-266 

Rice, Cultivation of 214 

Varieties of 214 

Introduction of 215 

Golden and White Seed 216 

Prospects of increased culture 

of 

Rice Mills 279 

Rivers, System of 17 

Names of — Tennessee 17 

Hiwassee 17 

Nottelly 17 

Cheoah . 17 

Nantahala .. 17 

Ocona-Lufty 17 

Tuckaseege 17 

Pigeon 17 

French Broad 17 

Nollechucky 17 

Elk 17 

North Toe 18 

New River 19 



Paob. 

Rivers, Names of — First and Sec- 
ond Broad 19 

Catawba 19 

Yadkin 19-20 

Dan and Roanoke 20 

Tar... 20 

Neuse 20 

Haw River 20 

Deep River 20 

Cape Fear. .. 20 

Black River... 21 

North-East 22 

. Lumber . 22 

Waccamaw 22 

Rock Crystal 327 

Ruby 327 

Saluda Mountains 1 

Sandstone, Quarries of 293-295 

Sapphire . . ... 327 

School Census 77 

Scliool Property, Value of 77 

Shoe Factories 282 

Shrubbery, Varieties of 40 

Snow-drop Tree 40 

Rhododendron 40 

Kalmia, or Ivy 40 

Azalea _. 41 

Fringe Tree 41 

Silk, Remarks on 233 

Attempts to manufacture ... 234 
Manufactory of, at Wades- 

boro 535 

Silver, Lead and Zinc 310 

Slate .... 296 

Soils of the Middle Section 10 

Snow, Annual fall of 45 

Sounds and Bays — PamUco 24 

Alberaai-le 24 

Currituck 24 

Croatan 24 

Core 25 

Bogue 25 

State Capital 74 

State Hospital, Western 60 

State Hospital at Raleigh 60 

State Hospital, Eastern 61 

State Debt, statement of 57-58 

Steel and Iron Works 281-282 

Stock Raising 7 

Suffrage . . 54 

Supreme Court and Library Build- 
ing 74 

Swamps 13 

In Hyde County 25 

Dismal 26 

Dover 26 

Holly Shelter 26 

Gum Swamp 26 

Angola Bay 26 

Swamp Lands, Area of 25 

Talc '. 280-322 

Taxation 53 

Taxes, Statement of State 55-56 

Taxes on White Polls 56 



INDEX. 



333 



Page. 

Taxes on Colored Polls 66 

Taxes for School Purposes 77 

Thermal Belt 45-46 

Tobacco, History of 208-209 

Tobacco, Origin of Bright Yellow. 209 

Extent of culture of 210-211 

Value of crop of 211 

Production of by Counties. -.213-214 

Tobacco Factories in North Caro- 
lina, plug 271 

Tobacco Factories in North Caro- 
lina, smoking 271 

Tobacco Factories in North Caro- 
lina, cigarettes _ 271 

Tobacco Factories. Exports of, in 

cigarettes ..- 272 

Tobacco Factories, Exports of, in 

plug and smoking 272 

Tobacco, Exports of, in snufif 272 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Winston.-. 273 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Salem 272 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Greensboro 272 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Durham 278 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Henderson 272 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Wilson .. 272 

Tobacco Warehouses, Number in 

Asheville 272 

Tobacco Flues, Manufactory of . . - 282 

Tobacco Boxes, Manufactory of.. 282 



j Paob. 

! Topography of the State 1 

Truck Farming 228 

Truck Farming, Introduction of . . 229 

At Rocky Point 

At Magnolia 

Extent of, at Newbern 230 

Products of ,aroimd Newbern. 230-232 
Around Elizabeth City ... 232 

Tryon Mountains 3 

Uwharrie Mountain 4 

University of North Carolina 77 

How sustained 80 

Valley River Mountains 3 

Venus' Fly-trap 41 

Vineyards, Attention to, and in- 

I crease of 256 

i Medoc Vin eya rd 256 

j Tokay Vineyard 256-257 

Southern Pines Vineyard 257 

' Engardine Vineyard 257 

1 Bordeaux Vineyard 257 

I Vineyards in Wake County 257-258 

Water-power of the State 10-23 

Whetstone 323 

I Wine. Manufacture of 257-258 

Woolen Mills in North Carolina, 

j number of 270 

Wood- working Establisliments — 

Of Carriages and Buggies 278 

Of Wagons 273 

OfFvn-niture 274 

Of Hubs, SjDokes and Handles- 274 
I Of Sash. Doors and Blinds... 275 

i Yadkin River 19-20,43 

! Zircon .-. 327 



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